Habomai Islands

Khabomai Rocks

Other names	Russian: Хабомаи; Japanese: 歯舞群島, romanized: Habomai guntō
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	43°30′N 146°8′E
Archipelago	Kuril Islands
Administration
Russia

The Khabomai Rocks (Russian: Хабомаи (Khabomai), Japanese: 歯舞群島 (Habomai guntō) or 歯舞諸島 (Habomai shotō )) are a group of islets in the southernmost Kuril Islands. They are currently under Russian administration, but are, together with Iturup, Kunashir and Shikotan, claimed by Japan.

Khabomai were occupied by the Soviet forces in the closing days of the Pacific War, and were eventually annexed by the Soviet Union in line with what Moscow claimed was a war-time agreement between the Allies (Yalta Agreement), which provided for the transfer of the islands to the USSR in return for its participation in the Pacific War.

In 1956, after difficult negotiations, the Soviet Union agreed to cede the Khabomai to Japan, along with Shikotan, after the conclusion of a peace treaty between the two countries. In the event, the treaty was never concluded, and the islands remained under Soviet jurisdiction. However, the promise of a two-island solution (for the purpose of simplicity, the Khabomai rocks count as one island) has been renewed in the Soviet-Japanese, and later, Russo-Japanese negotiations.

In part because of uncertainties with regard to the future of the Khabomai, the islands are now uninhabited save for the Russian border guard outpost.

See also

• Kuril Islands dispute

References and external links

• The majority of Russians are strongly against making territorial concessions to Japan
• Hokkaido had development plans for Shikotan, Habomai islets
• Habomai islet gets Russian Orthodox church
• The Kurile Islands