Well sure, Japan would like the islands back:
Japanese Defence Minister Itsunori Onodera said on Tuesday that Tokyo had asked Russia to reduce its military activity on a disputed island chain in the Pacific after Moscow beefed up its forces there in response to what it sees as a potential threat.
Japan is unlikely to be a threat to Russia despite the lack of a peace treaty that formally ended World War II between them because of the island issue.
But even if the Japanese agreed to pay a good price for the islands, given that Russia would probably like the Sea of Okhotsk to be a defended SSBN bastion to have a survivable nuclear deterrent, I doubt Russia would give up the islands and open a gaping hole in that barrier.
And really, that region facing Japan (and America) will serve as a rear area to support Russian forces to the west freed to focus on China.
Russia claims to worry about Japan when it is really worried about China.
And all this while Russia claims that NATO is a threat when it is really China that poses a threat.
All Russia manages to achieve with this deception is a stronger China with (for now) dormant claims on large portions of Russia's Far East, an awakened and alarmed NATO, and an awakened and alarmed Japan (although China and North Korea played the major roles in that).
Will nobody in Russia tell Putin he's effing things up royally?
#WhyRussiaCan'tHaveNiceThings
