War / Asia-Pacific
Myanmar Civil War
Malaysia becomes the first maritime ASEAN state to invite Min Aung Hlaing as Russia embeds inside junta administration and resistance.
Kuril Islands
Soviet troops seized the four southernmost Kuril Islands in the final days of the Second World War, and the war never formally ended: Japan refuses to recognize Russian sovereignty over what it calls the Northern Territories, so the two countries have never signed a peace treaty.
Decades of talks traded fishing rights and visa-free visits without ever touching the core question. They collapsed for good after 2022, when Japan joined sanctions over Ukraine and Moscow declared the issue closed. China sails joint naval patrols with Russia near the islands.
Eighty years after the last shots, the Second World War is still legally unfinished in the North Pacific.
Putin's first presidential visit to Iturup in early September, paired with Bastion coastal missile tests, marked the sharpest Russian assertion of administrative control over the Kurils in years.
Japan's response bottomed out when Tokyo ruled out any halt to Sakhalin-II LNG purchases, confirming that equity stakes taken as diplomatic inducements have inverted into leverage Moscow holds over Japanese policy.
Weekly net escalation pressure, last 90 days
China (joint naval activity with Russia around the Kurils). United States (Japan's treaty ally).
Sep 10, 2026
De-escalating
Diplomatic
Japan Protests UN Map Depicting Kuril Islands as Russian Territory
Tokyo lodged a formal protest demanding correction of the newly adopted UN world map, which shows the disputed Kuril islands in the same colour as Russia.
Sep 3, 2026
De-escalating
Diplomatic
Putin's Far East Tour Ends Without Chinese Pipeline Deal
Putin's tour of Siberia and the Far East culminated in the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok after an SCO summit in Kyrgyzstan that produced ceremony but little substance.
Date unknown
De-escalating
Sanctions
Japan Rules Out Sakhalin-II LNG Cutoff After Putin's Kuril Islands Visit
Tokyo declined to follow its verbal condemnation of Putin's Kuril island visit with the energy measures that would carry cost, ruling out any halt to Sakhalin-II purchases while announcing countermeasures it has not implemented.
War / Asia-Pacific
Malaysia becomes the first maritime ASEAN state to invite Min Aung Hlaing as Russia embeds inside junta administration and resistance.
War / Asia-Pacific
Pakistan's two-front insurgency holds at record violence levels as Munir's military-first consolidation forecloses dialogue and Gwadar's rising strategic value sharpens.