Russia administers the Kurils as part of Sakhalin oblast. In 1945 Soviet forces took possession of the islands and expelled the local population in accordance with the text of the Yalta Agreement, which stated that βThe Kuril islands shall be handed over to the Soviet Union.β Japan still claims the four southernmost islands, which it refers to as the Northern Territories. The dispute over ownership of the southernmost Kurils has remained a conspicuous sticking point in Japan-Russia relations, and it is the main reason that the two countries did not sign a formal peace treaty after World War II.
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