Dec 15, 2016
Kurilsk is a bleak and ominous town with dozens of wooden houses scattered among the mounds of snow. It is the largest settlement on Iturup Island, which lies between Japan’s Hokkaido Island and Russia’s Kamchatka and belongs to the Kuril Islands chain.
In the winter, Iturup is nearly impossible to reach. There is a ferry from port Korsakov on Sakhalin Island that runs every two weeks and the whole commute takes up to 20 hours. The flights are also irregular and are often delayed for four to five days due to the weather conditions.
The Kurils are strategically important for Russia. It has a number of military bases on the islands, which also guarantee secure access to the Pacific Ocean through the the Sea of Okhotsk.
Russia has included social and economic development programmes approved since 2014 for the development of these territories in its federal budget, allocating almost 70 billion roubles ($1.1bn) to the cause.
According to the “Social and economic development of the Kuril Islands (Sakhalin region) 2016-2025”, priority is given to the development of a transportation system, infrastructure and the improvement of living conditions. The development plans are ambitious but locals complain that they have yet to any effect on unemployment, low salaries and a lack of roads.
The island is rich in natural resources, including unique reserves of rhenium on the Kudryavy volcano, but the main profit comes from the fishery industry and the production of fish roe. The delicacy is quite popular in Russia although it is much cheaper than caviar.
Source: Al Jazeera