http://jamestown.org/edm/article.php?article_id=2369865

But Putin's special envoy in the Far East, Konstantin Pulikovsky, ruled
out any territorial concessions to Japan. "I think it will not happen,"
he said. "Maybe it could happen eventually, but it will be done by
future generations, in 50 or 100 years from now, and not by us,"
Pulikovsky argued. He also urged Moscow to develop the Kuril Islands,
including energy and transportation sectors (Interfax, May 25).

Moreover, in early June Nikolai Patrushev, head of the Federal Security
Service, the agency in charge of the country's border-guard forces,
traveled to Sakhalin region and the South Kuril Islands to inspect
border facilities. In an apparent symbolic gesture, local servicemen
reportedly have built a Russian Orthodox cross and a chapel on Kunashir
shore, a site that can be seen from Hokkaido (Strana.ru, June 6). The
message was far too clear: the Japanese were told to forget about
"Northern Territories."