"We will establish a good Russian naval base on Hokkaido," Zhirinovsky said on Sakhalin Island, which he visited while barnstorming across Russia's Far East.
Hokkaido lies just south of Sakhalin, once a closed island fortress during the Cold War. Japan occupied the southern tip of Sakhalin until World War II, when Soviet soldiers evicted its forces and also seized the nearby Kuril Islands.
Zhirinovsky's current trip was aimed at boosting his popularity, which has sagged amid disappointment that he has failed to carry out similar promises made during last year's parliamentary campaign.
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