Medved visit stirs up old wounds

An oldie but a goodie. Back in 1904, the Russian Empire picks a fight with Japan over the territories of Manchuria and Korea. Russia, and later the Soviet Union, lacks a warm water port and the quest for one exists from the time of Peter the Great through most of the 20th Century. Nineteenth Century Japan was considered nothing more than a feudal relic and Russia was widely expected to pummel the Japanese navy. However, the Russian navy was roundly defeated and set the stage for the Russian Revolution and the end of Czarist Russia. The 1905 Treaty of Portsmouth gave the southern Kurile Islands to the Japanese. (The earlier 1875 Treaty of St Petersburg gave the Russians the Sakhalin Islands). The Soviet Union occupies the Kurile Islands during World War II and expels the Japanese inhabitants. To make matters worse, the 1951 San Francisco Peace Treaty between the Allied Powers and Japan stipulated that Japan give up all claims to the Kurile Islands. In a compromise move, the Soviet Union claims over the islands is not recognized by the treaty. Modern day Russia claims the treat in fact recognizes their claim over the islands, the Japanese of course dispute this. Medved's visit can be seen as Russia reasserting itself in area and may indicate a return to more aggressive policy towards former Soviet territory.

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