Historically, Both Japan and Russia have occupied the Kuril Islands, so the issue of ownership of the Kuril Islands has been controversial between the two countries. In February 1945, towards the end of World War II, the three great powers of the United States, Great Britain, and the Soviet Union, held the Yalta Conference on the Crimean Peninsula in the northern part of the Black Sea, and the United States and Britain promised that after the victory in World War II, Sakhalin Islands and kuril Islands occupied by Japan would belong to the Soviet Union.
Towards the end of World War II, the Soviet Union sent troops to occupy Sakhalin and kuril Islands and put them on its own map. As a defeated country, Japan could only swallow the bitter fruit. However, Japan recognized the fact that Sakhalin Island and the Kuril Islands were Soviet Union, but Japan believed that the four northern islands (South Kuril Islands) did not belong to the Kuril Islands and were Japanese territory, so it demanded that Russia return the northern four islands to Japan.
In response to Japan's territorial claims, Russian President Vladimir Putin said: "Although Russia is very large, not an inch of land is superfluous", and Russia has no will to return the four northern islands. Russia did not give up any land to Japan, but in history, it has "given away" 3 pieces of land.
Alaska
Alaska is now part of the United States and is a state of the United States, but historically it was owned by Russia. In the 17th century, Russian sailors discovered Alaska. Subsequently, Russian hunters continued to travel to Alaska, turning Alaska into Russian territory.
In the 19th century, after the Russian Empire defeated Napoleon's France, it played the role of "European gendarme", which made the European countries begin to envy Russia. In 1853, after the outbreak of war between Russia and the Ottoman Empire in Europe, Britain, France, the Kingdom of Sardinia and the Ottoman Empire formed an "anti-Russian alliance" to jointly attack Russia, which eventually led to Russia's loss of the Crimean War.
After losing to the "Anti-Russian Alliance", Russia suffered heavy losses. At the same time, tens of thousands of British soldiers in the Canadian region were eyeing the Russian-controlled Alaska region. Unwilling to expend its national resources to protect Alaska, Russia weighed the pros and cons and sold alaska to Britain's rival, the United States, for $7.2 million.
Alaska at that time was a place where birds did not, worthless, after the US Secretary of State Seward bought Alaska, the Americans were very angry, mocking Alaska as Seward's refrigerator.
Alaska is rich in oil, fisheries and tourism, and it now seems that this is a very good deal for the United States. Later, the Russians offered to buy Alaska back from the Americans, but the United States refused.
2. Crimea
Historically, Crimea was occupied by Greeks, Romans, Goths, Huns, Khazars, Byzantines and Mongols. In the 13th century, the Crimean Peninsula fell into the hands of the Ottoman Empire. In 1783, in the process of foreign expansion, Russia defeated the Ottoman Empire and seized the Crimean region into its own hands, and the Crimean Peninsula became Russia's territory.
In 1922, Russia, Ukraine, Belarus, the South Caucasus Federation and other countries formed the Soviet Union. Later, the number of Soviet unionist states increased to 15. Russia and Ukraine have changed from two countries to one country. In 1956, in order to commemorate the 300th anniversary of the "alliance" between Russia and Ukraine, Khrushchev gave Russian Crimea to Ukraine, and Crimea became Ukraine's territory. Russia and Ukraine belong to the same country, so it is equivalent to a left hand to a right hand, and no one objected at the time.
In 1991, the Soviet Union finally collapsed due to internal contradictions. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, Ukraine and Russia became two countries. Due to the good relations between the two countries, Ukraine did not return Crimea to Russia, and it still belongs to Ukraine. Later, relations between Russia and Ukraine turned sour. With Russia's support, Crimea rejoined Russia through a referendum. Crimea is now in Russian hands. Western countries and Ukraine do not recognize the matter, and the controversy over Crimea continues.
Finland
Finland is a small country in Northern Europe, and historically it was owned by Russia. Finland was originally a territory of Sweden. During the expansion of Tsarist Russia, it had always been eyeing neighboring Sweden and wanted to annex it. Sweden was not willing to be annexed by Russia, so from 1590 onwards, there were 8 Russo-Swedish wars between Sweden and Tsarist Russia. In 1980, the Tsar chose to ally with the European power France and eventually defeated Sweden, forcing Sweden to cede the Åland Islands and Finland to Russia, and Finland became Russian territory.
In 1917, the October Revolution took place in Russia. Finland declared its independence when Russia was in a civil war and was too busy to do so. After the establishment of the Soviet Union, in order to recover Finland, it sent 500,000 troops to attack Finland. In the Soviet-Finnish War, the Soviet army was stubbornly sniped by Finnish soldiers, paying a terrible price of 370,000 casualties. In the end, the Soviet Union won the war, but it was a crushing victory.
After its defeat, Finland was forced to cede part of its territory to the Soviet Union. Subsequently, Finland began to unite with Germany in order to protect itself. Later, Germany lost World War II, and Finland became a defeated country, forced to cede some territory to the Soviet Union, but it still retained most of its territory.