The chain of 56 volcanic islands known as the Kuril Islands extends for about 1,200 kilometres (750 miles) from the south tip of the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia to Hokkaido Island in Japan, separating the Sea of Okhotsk from the Pacific Ocean. The largest islands are Paramushir, Onekotan, Urup, Iturup, and Kunashir.

As part of the geologically active Ring of Fire encircling the Pacific Ocean, the Kuril Islands have many hot springs and active volcanoes. The name of the islands is derived from the Russian word kurit, which means "to smoke". The climate of the islands is wet, with cold, snowy winters. Tundra covering the northern islands gives way to thick forest in the south.

The inhabitants of the islands include the Ainu, an Aboriginal people of Asia. Hunting, fishing, and sulphur mining are the chief occupations of the people who live on the islands. Tidal waves and earthquakes strike the islands frequently. In 1994 an underwater earthquake measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale shook the islands, killing at least 16 people.

The Kuril Islands have been a source of contention since their settlement by both the Russians and the Japanese in the 18th century. In 1875 Japan ceded the nearby island of Sakhalin to Russia in exchange for full Japanese possession of the Kuril Islands. The islands were returned to the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics (USSR) by an agreement reached at the Yalta Conference in 1945, although Japan maintained a claim to the four southernmost islands after World War II. In the early 1990s Japan increased diplomatic pressure for the return of the disputed islands, but Russia has been unwilling to relinquish sovereignty over them. Clashes between Russian patrol boats and Japanese fishing boats in the area in the mid-1990s indicate continued tension over possession of the islands.