Burevestnik Base

Burevestnik Base was a sizable Russian military base located on the island of Iturup, in the disputed southern Kuril Islands on the eastern edge of the Sea of Okhotsk. Intended to provide immediate access to the northern Pacific Ocean for the Russian Navy, Burevestnik Base was comprised of an air base, operated by the Russian Aerospace Forces, and a naval base, operated by the Navy, and also contained substantial garrisons of Russian airborne and amphibious forces.

Originally established by the Imperial Japanese Army Air Force as Tennei Airbase, the Soviets converted it into Burevestnik Airport after reoccupying the Kuril Islands in 1945. Throughout the Cold War the base would be used to defend the islands, but after the fall of the USSR, it was eventually left mostly abandoned by the military, from then on only receiving civilian air traffic until that too eventually ceased with the opening of Iturup Airport in 2014. However, in 2020 the Russian military would return to Burevestnik, beginning major renovations into a new combined air and naval base. The massive expansion of the base quickly provoked political tension with Japan, concerned with presence of a significant Russian military installation on disputed territory, let alone in such close proximity to a major Japanese island like nearby Hokkaido. These concerns would prove to be well-founded, as forces from the base would move in to kick off an invasion of northeastern Hokkaido during the New Year's Offensive of 2025.