Defiant Russia lashes out at Japan after Putin visit Kuril Islands seized 81 years ago as its African ally clashes with the EU and calls it “contemptuous”

Moscow has taken a defiant stance toward Tokyo following President Vladimir Putin’s historic visit to the Kuril Islands (56 islands and many minor islets), a territory seized from Japan at the end of World War II (81 years ago). While Japan remains outraged over the visit to the archipelago (a cluster of islands) it calls the Northern Territories, Russia has doubled down, asserting that its control over the region is permanent.