Military support with modern weaponry is a must for the
security of the islands, Russian President Dmitry Medvedev
said in a meeting last week with Defense Minister Anatoly
Serdyukov and Regional Development Minister Viktor Basagrin.
Four sparsely populated islands (Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan,
and Habomai) in the Kuril chain between Japan's northern
island of Hokkaido and Russia's Far Eastern Kamchatka
Peninsula were annexed by the Soviet Union at the end
of World War II but are still claimed by Japan.
The dispute over the islands, called the Northern Territories
in Japan, has prevented Russia and Japan from signing
a formal peace treaty.
The General Staff official said S-400 missile defense
systems could be deployed to the islands to protect them
from possible attacks.
Prior to Medvedev's visit to one of the disputed islands
in November, Japan voiced its concerns saying the arrival
of the Russian leader could complicate bilateral relations,
but Russia's Foreign Ministry rejected Tokyo's attempts
to change Medvedev's plans saying he "defines the
routes of trips across his country on his own."
The visit was the first trip by a head of state of Russia
or the former Soviet Union to the South Kuril Islands.
Soon after landing on Kunashir Island, Medevedev uploaded
on his Twitter account a photograph of Kunashir's landscape
made by him with the note: "There are so many picturesque
places in Russia. Kunashir."
Speaking during a rally in Tokyo on February 8, Japanese
Prime Minister Naoto Kan called Medvedev's visit to the
islands last November an "inexcusable rudeness,"
sparking an angry response from Moscow.
