Russia has moved two S-300 surface-to-air missile systems from a chain of disputed Far East islands that Japan claims as its own, Japan's Kyodo news agencyreported Friday, citing satellite imagery.Yu Koizumi, a University of Tokyo lecturer who analyzed the images from United States space tech company Maxar, speculated that Russia may have repurposed the S-300V4 systems for its war in Ukraine.The Russian military is deploying all weapons at their disposal, which is evidence of their active engagement in the [Ukrainian] conflict, Koizumi told Kyodo.Moscow deployed the S-300V4s on Iturup and Kunashir, two of the four Russian-held Kuril Islands, in late 2020.
Tokyo, which refers to the Kuril Islands as the Northern Territories,protested the moves at the time.Kyodo noted that Maxar images showed the two S-300V4 systems in Iturups Kasatka Bay (known in Japan as Etorofus Hitokappu Bay) and Kunashirs Yuzhno-Kurilsk (known as Kunashiris Furukamappu) back in September 2022.Koizumi said he believes both systems have since been redeployed to Russias western borders with Ukraine in preparation for a potential attack.An unspecified number of old tanks and howitzers in southern Sakhalin may have been repaired and sent to Ukraine, the lecturer also said.A similarly unspecified number of residents of Iturup and Kunashir have also been mobilized into the Russian military, where some have since died, Koizumi added.Kyodos report comes a week after Ukraines military intelligenceclaimed to have destroyed a Russian S-400 missile defense system in annexed Crimea.
The Russian military has not commented on the claims.The S-300 is a mobile, long-range air defense system developed in the 1970s that can detect, track and destroy ballistic missiles, cruise missiles and aircraft.
Russias S-400 Triumf surface-to-air system entered service in 2007.Russia has controlled the Kuril Islands, which lie north of Japans Hokkaido, since seizing them in the final days of World War II in 1945.The territorial dispute and Russias growing militarization of the island chain have kept Moscow and Tokyo from signing a peace accord that would formally mark an end to the war.