NEW DELHI: The Kuril Islands are a chain of volcanic islands stretching across 1150 Km (715 miles) from the northeast of Japan’s Hokkaido to the southern tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula, Russia. Japan claims sovereignty over the four southernmost islands— Iturup, Kunashir, Shikotan, and Habomai Islands— which it refers to as the Northern Territories. However, Russia claims the whole stretch as its own.
