This document highlights the Russian military’s concerns about the potential of losing the Southern Kurils to the Japanese. The document stresses that Japan still sees Russia as its most probable enemy in the Far East, and has plans to capture the islands in wartime. Losing these islands would present formidable obstacles to the Soviet Union because the Japanese and their American allies would have direct and unimpeded access to the Sea of Okhotsk, while the Russians would be prevented from conducting air attacks against U.S. aircraft carrier force east of the Tsugaru Strait. The document also provides statistics on Soviet-US submarine collisions and Japanese violations of Soviet/Russian territorial waters.
