PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, July 28 (RIA Novosti) - Russia does not plan to change the number or composition of its military contingent on the South Kuril Islands in the near future, Defense Minister Sergei Ivanov said.
"We are not going to either decrease or increase the number of military personnel there. We have not been ordered to do so in the future, although there is certainly a possibility of both. Everything will depend on the current political situation," Ivanov told a news conference after arriving in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky.