| Disputed island Other names: Russian: Хабомаи; Japanese: 歯舞群島 |
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|---|---|
| Khabomai Rocks from space | |
| Geography | |
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Khabomai
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| Location | Pacific Ocean |
| Archipelago | Kuril Islands |
| Total islands | 10 + several rocks |
| Administered by | |
| Russia | |
| Oblast | Sakhalin |
| Claimed by | |
| Japan | |
| Prefecture | Hokkaidō |
| Russia | |
| Oblast | Sakhalin |
The Habomai Islands (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.
Habomai 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 Habomai 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 Habomai 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 Habomai, the islands are now uninhabited save for the Russian border guard outpost.