PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY, July 13 (RIA Novosti, Oksana Guseva) - Border guards from the Kamchatka peninsula (the Far East) are exploring Japanese and American shipwrecks near the Kuril Islands.

Borders guards headed for the small island of Matua Wednesday to explore deserted Japanese facilities, the Northeastern Border Department of the Federal Security Service's Coast Guard said.

If weather permits, divers will examine sunken Japanese vessels and a U.S. SS-223 Herring submarine.

Kamchatka officers will also commemorate Soviet border guards buried on the island.

The expedition has been organized as part of celebrations of the 60th anniversary of the end of WWII and the 60th anniversary of the establishment of the local Coast Guard.

The 1945 Kuril landing operation was conducted from August 18 to September 1, involving troops of the Kamchatka defense area, vessels of the Petropavlovsk (Kamchatka) naval base and the 128th air division.

Soviet troops landed on the northern Shumshu Island, a Japanese stronghold (after the defeat of the Russian Empire in the Russian-Japanese War of 1904-1905 the Kuril Islands and southern Sakhalin were under the Japanese rule). The Japanese garrison surrendered event though it enjoyed numerical and material superiority.

On August 22-28, Soviet troops landed on other northern islands, including Urup, and occupied the southern Kuril Islands by September 1.

After Japan's defeat in World War II, the Soviet Union regained the Kuril Islands and southern Sakhalin. Today, Tokyo demands that Russia return four South Kurils making it a condition of concluding a peace treaty with Russia. Moscow has acknowledged there is a territorial problem but proposes negotiations to resolve it.