evidence: The Kuril Islands (Russian: Кури́лы, koo-REE-lyh; Japanese: Chishima Islands, 千島列島, Chishima Rettō), are a chain of islands in the Russian Far East, located directly to the north of Hokkaido, Japan, east of Sakhalin and southwest of Kamchatka. [...] Understand [edit]The original inhabitants of the Kuril Islands were the Ainu people, who also live on the Japanese island of Hokkaido, and the Russian island of Sakhalin. With the establishment of diplomatic relations between the Russian Empire and Japan in 1855, the islands were divided between the two countries, then another treaty in 1875 nominally placed the islands under Japanese control. At the end of World War II, the Soviet Union took control of the islands. They were then ethnically cleansed of their Japanese populations in 1947, and thoroughly Russified. Though still claimed by their former owner, Japan, the Kurils are now thoroughly Russian. Similar to other parts of the Russian Far East, this remote, sparsely populated area has seen little industrial development. Most locals make their living fishing in the island chain's abundant waters. The chain's most populated island is Kunashir, centered on Yuzhno-Kurilsk, but its smaller administrative capital Kurilsk is located on the biggest island, Iturup.