俄罗斯归还银龙岛和半个黑瞎子岛， moscow times的评价：

"While China was weaker than our country, this was not a hot topic,"
Markov said. "But as China quickly becomes strong, and if a nationalist
government comes to power there, the unsettled border could become a
real problem."

Vladimir Portyakov, the head of the Research
Center for Russian-Chinese relations at the Institute of Far Eastern
Studies, said the decision to finalize the border region was largely
Russia's decision.

"Historical justice has also prevailed,
because [imperial] Russia, and then the Soviet Union, have pushed China
to revise the border at times when China was weak," Portyakov said.

The first border agreement between the two countries, called the Treaty of Nerchinsk, dates back to 1689.

Through
most of modern history, the Russian and Soviet states were stronger
than China, but that situation changed in the 1990s, said Dmitry
Trenin, a senior foreign policy analyst at the Moscow Carnegie Center.

"Having
a disputed border with China now is dangerous," he said. "China is not
pressuring Russia, but Russian leaders clearly feel how its might is
growing."

Given the hard line Russian officials have taken over
similar calls from Japan for the return of the Kuril Islands, which
were seized by the Soviet Union in the dying days of World War II,
Putin's decision in 2004 to open negotiations on passing Yinlong and
Heixiazi islands back to China surprised many.