VLADIVOSTOK, Russia -- Russia will grant extensive tax breaks to a chain of Pacific islands to lure international investment, President Vladimir Putin said Friday, a move that would include the Northern Territories off Japan's Hokkaido which the Soviet Union invaded in the waning days of World War II.
Companies will be exempt from profit, property, land and transport taxes for 10 years and will pay reduced insurance premiums across the Kurils, Putin told the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, referring to the chain of islands that include the Northern Territories.
