Ukraine has criticized Apple for its marking of Crimea, a disputed territory, as part of Russia in its apps for Russian users.
Tech giant Apple is receiving backlash from Ukraine for marking the disputed territory of Crimea as part of Russia in Russian users' apps.
Apple's map app lists Crimea cities, such as Sevastopol, as part of Russia for users in Russia. It also includes a border between the rest of Ukraine and Crimea but no border at the Kerch Strait, between Russia and Crimea. However, for users outside of Russia, Crimea will be seen as part of Ukraine in Apple Maps, and without a country designation when searching in the weather app.
Crimea has been a disputed territory since it was annexed by Russia from Ukraine in 2014 after a popular uprising removed Ukraine's pro-Russian president from power. Western nations supporting Ukraine, including the US, argued that Russia's annexation of Crimea was illegal and as a result, they have imposed economic sanctions, including freezing assets and restricting trade.
For months, Apple has been receiving pressure from the Russian parliament to change how Crimea appears in its apps and to follow a law that sets out rules for "assigning or using the names of geographical objects."
On Wednesday, the Russian parliament announced that Apple has informed one of its committees that "inaccurate" displays of the Republic of Crimea had been "finally removed" in compliance to the Russian legislation.
In response to this, Ukrainian officials criticized Apple and Ukrainian Foreign Minister Vadym Prystaiko wrote a series of tweets saying that the company should "stick to high-tech and entertainment. Global politics is not your strong side. "
Google has also complied with Russian demands for its Google Maps. A company spokesperson said: "We make every effort to objectively depict the disputed regions, and where we have local versions of Google Maps, we follow local legislation when displaying names and borders."
