evidence: The South Kuril Islands dispute is a telling symbol of a poor bilateral relationship. [...] Land concessions can induce passion, but when they are relatively peripheral, as the South Kuril Islands certainly are for both countries, the issue can be captured by narrow but dedicated interest groups.5 For the South Kuril Islands, local Russian activists and the Japanese League of Residents of Chishima6 and Habomai Islands have effectively prevented resolution of the dispute. The former warns the Russian government against changing the status quo and the latter prevents the Japanese government from accepting anything other than maximal concessions. [...] Renewing the idea of an Ostpolitik in the Asia-Pacific does not upend the 1945 legacy in Europe, nor does it betray the sacrifice of the Russian people in the Great Patriotic War of 1941–1945. The South Kuril Islands are more in the league of historical strategic outposts like the naval bases in Port Arthur and the Hanko Peninsula in the Gulf of Finland that were transferred in 1953 to China and 1956 to Finland, respectively. Similar steps have been made in more recent times when Putin decided in 2000 to abandon former Soviet military facilities in Cuba and Vietnam. Also, Russia’s deals with China in 2004 and Norway in 20108 both resulted in Russia’s giving up part of its administered territory or its long-standing legal position, but it is safe to believe that settling the South Kuril Islands issue will not bring about new claims from either China or Norway.