3 Roubles Kunashir

Kunashir is one of the four main islands in the Southern Kurils chain, administered by Russia but claimed by Japan as part of the Northern Territories dispute — a territorial disagreement that has prevented the two countries from signing a formal peace treaty ending World War II to this day. This coin is part of Russia's ongoing "Geographical Regions" series, which has periodically served a quiet political function: asserting sovereignty over contested or remote territories through commemorative issuance rather than diplomatic negotiation.

Japan refers to Kunashir as Kunashiri, one of its claimed "inherent territories" seized by Soviet forces in August 1945 during the final days of the Pacific war.