The Kuril Islands are an archipelago of volcanic islands located off the coast of Russia. In the 1945 Yalta Agreement, signed by Winston Churchill, Joseph Stalin, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, the Soviet Union pledged the islands to the Soviet Union in exchange for entering the Pacific War against Imperial Japan.
Tokyo asserts sovereignty over the archipelago's four southernmost islands, termed the "Northern Territories." Russia categorically denies these accusations. Japan and Russia have been unable to sign a peace treaty that would officially end World War II hostilities due to the Kuril Islands conflict.