The Berlin daily Berliner Morgenpost had to change its interactive “Migration atlas – where do Berliners come from?” just one day after its publication on 21 January 2016. After complaints by Ukrainian supporters on social media, the newspaper changed the country tag of Crimean towns and cities from “Russia” to “Ukraine (controlled by Russia).”
This is not the first time that maps of Western companies legitimizing the Russian occupation of Crimea have come under fire. Previously, the British publisher Oxford University Press published a textbook depicting Crimea as Russian territory that Russia “took” from Ukraine; following mass outrage, the company corrected the mistake. The French publisher Larousse and Italian publisher Limes have not yet reacted to appeals from the public and the Ukrainian embassies to correct their atlases showing Crimea as part of Russia. Meanwhile, recently, Coca-Cola was forced to withdraw a marketing map depicting Crimea as Russian following calls of Ukrainians to boycott the company. Pepsi Cola had received a letter of concern from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine.
Read more: Several Western organizations consider Crimea Russian
