Asia Times: Russia winning the hearts of Kurile islanders


	July 12, 2001	atimes.com

Central Asia/Russia

Russia winning the hearts of Kurile islanders
By Nonna Chernyakova

VLADIVOSTOK - After a time of neglect, Russia's federal and local governments are investing more in the economy of the southern Kuriles - a group of disputed islands governed by Russia but also claimed by Japan. And, as the life of the islanders is gradually improving, they are less likely to agree to transferring the territory to Japan.

In November 1998, when this reporter last visited, the Kuriles were gripped by a serious energy crisis and the island of Iturup was without electricity for 16 hours a day. Some buildings, including the hotel, had no heating or even, at times, water. There were also problems with telephone connections.

At that time, the islanders were outraged with the situation in the populated southern Kurile Islands of Iturup, Kunashir, and Shikotan (Japan also claims a nearby group of uninhabited islets known as Habomai). About one-third of the people questioned on the dirt streets of Kurilsk wanted Japan to take over the territory because Russia's government was doing nothing to improve their lives.

But in the past two years the electricity problem has been solved, says Sergei Podolyan, the deputy governor of Sakhalin Oblast and the former mayor of Iturup. Ironically, Japan helped solve the problem by building a generator and providing fuel to produce electricity. But the local government also did its part.

"The main thing we did was create a realistic budget and controlled the cash flow," he said. "We have cut unjustified expenses, especially in our household maintenance system. We created a council of fishing companies that allowed us to increase the island's budget threefold, as they pitch in some profit from their fishing areas for the island's development."

The southern Kuriles are part of a volcanic chain that stretches 1,200 kilometers from Japan's Hokkaido to Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula. The southern islands were annexed by Japan in 1855, but the Soviet Union seized them at the end of World War II.

The Russian government has not forgotten about the islands, Podolyan said. Roads are being built and workers have started constructing a hydrothermal power station near the Baranovsky volcano. Joint investments from the federal and local governments into the economy and the infrastructure amounted to US$9.78 million in 2000, up from $2.54 million in 1999, according to the "Report on the Social and Economic State of the Southern Kuriles Area for January-December 2000", issued by the Sakhalin Regional Administration.

Islanders, too, say things are looking up. Nikolai Ramzayev, the director of the Kurilsk division of the Sakhalinsvyaz telephone company, said that the Internet was introduced last year on the islands and that by the end of July a digital telephone station will be built, which will significantly improve the quality of lines. "Finally, the islanders have started feeling some care from the authorities," Ramzayev said. "And life is improving gradually."

The islands are still isolated, however. Planes do not fly in bad weather, and a ship scheduled to sail once a week may abruptly change its plans and cast off days behind schedule. But despite continuing transportation problems, the cargo turnover has grown by 26.8 percent as compared to 1999, mainly because the ship started bringing more food and equipment to the islands. Four new cafes opened during 2000 and a nature museum is being remodeled into a Russian Orthodox church.

But the life of common people is still very hard. Some don't even have enough money to buy food, so shopkeepers provide food on credit. However, the average salary grew to $154.55 a month in 2000 compared to $109.65 in 1999, according to the Sakhalin Oblast government report. Despite the salary increases, more people are leaving the islands than arriving. During 2000, 275 people arrived and settled, but 416 residents left for good. In 2000, not a single baby was born in the area, officials said.

Rimma Rudakova, the head of Kurilsk administration's social department, is the local organizer of a non-visa exchange with Japan that has been going on for 10 years. While she supports the idea of cultural and other links with the neighboring country, she is against giving her "homeland" to Japan. She says the overwhelming majority of the islanders share this view - even children. "There was a discussion in our school," she said. "Local children said 'Our traditions and religion are so different. It would be so difficult to co-exist together'."

Tibor Ormosh, 43, is a former construction worker who decided to start a trading business from scratch. At first he brought suitcases full of food from Sakhalin Island by airplane, but now he owns a store called Tsunami. It is a modest business by foreign standards, but it is Kurilsk's biggest store. Ormosh complained that the Iturup administration has tried to limit his and other merchants' businesses by imposing price controls. Merchants cannot charge more than 40 percent over the wholesale price of staples. Merchants say they could live with the price controls if the government would help out with the cost of imports, but it refuses to do so.

Deputy Governor Podolyan explained the move as a compromise between needy people's situation and the desire for higher profits by traders. "The merchants are not quite sincere when they say the government doesn't help them," he said. "A new, lower tax makes their life much easier. They only pay it once a year, as opposed to every month before."

But while you might think someone like Ormosh would be interested trying his fortunes under the more business-savvy Japan, even he is opposed to returning the islands to Japan. "It is very beautiful, and everything is clean," said Ormosh, who has visited Sapporo under the non-visa exchange program. "But I wouldn't be able to live with the Japanese. Their psychology is so unlike ours, and we are used to an absolutely different life."

Nonna Chernyakova is a freelance reporter based in Vladivostok.

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