British publisher Oxford University Press has come under fire for printing a map of Crimea as part of Russia in a geography textbook for 11-14 year olds.
Public buildings in Crimea were seized by heavily-armed, mysterious gunmen, strongly resembling Russian soldiers, at a time when other parts of the country were protesting against pro-Russian President Viktor Yanukovych. The protests eventually toppled the Yanukovych government in Kiev and in response pro-Russian forces in Crimea held an internationally unrecognized referendum to become part of Russia in March 2014.
Ukraine, Western governments and the UN General Assembly have not accepted the results of the referendum. But the British publisher appears to be convinced.
According to Oxford University Press's textbook, Crimea is part of Russia in the same way that the Baltic exclave of Kaliningrad, which has been under Moscow's control since World War II and is not internationally disputed, is. The textbook summarizes the annexation of Crimea as a territory that "Russia took from Ukraine in 2014."
Representatives at the Ukrainian embassy in London are not so readily prepared to accept the redrawing of their country's borders. "I deeply regret that the textbook misleads the students which used to rely on the Oxford University Press as a reputable publishing house," the Ukrainian ambassador's charge d'affaires wrote in a statement on the embassy's Facebook page.
"Ukraine's Embassy urges the publishing house to correct mistakes immediately as such grave mistakes may bring the Oxford University Press into disrepute," the letter reads. The letter carries on to praise the UK's role in condemning the Crimean annexation and urges publishers to recognize that the "sham referendum" was "held under the barrels of Russian guns."
A spokesperson for Oxford University Press says that they will make a further addition to the textbook.
"We will be changing the wording used on this matter and will also include the UN position," the spokesperson says. "We continuously review all of our materials to reflect changes in circumstance and feedback from various sources."
He adds: "All of the information in our atlases and geographical resources are developed through detailed research into the political, social, and economic situation at the time of publication. The exact information that is included on a topic in any particular publication takes account of the level of the students, the learning objective, and it uses language that will engage learners."
The did not comment on when the updated version of the textbook would go to print.
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