Russia, Japan strain in relations as Moscow plans to build LNG plant on Sakhalin

Russian state gas company Gazprom plans to build a small-scale liquefied natural gas (LNG) plant on the Pacific island of Sakhalin to supply the disputed Kuril Islands, the Sakhalin regional government said on Wednesday. Russia and Japan are in talks over ownership of the chain of islands which were captured by Soviet troops from Japan during the final days of World War Two.

The islands are known as the Southern Kurils in Russia and the Northern Territories in Japan. The Sakhalin government said in a statement that the planned plant would have a capacity of up to 100,000 tonnes of LNG per year which would be shipped to the disputed islands to produce electricity there. No timeframe was given.