Coca-Cola under investigation for drawing map of Russia with Crimea

Ukrainian prosecutors are launching a criminal investigation against the beverage giants Coca-Cola and PepsiCo over the annexation of the Crimean peninsula to Russia.

Coca-Cola map.

Ukrainian prosecutors have launched a criminal investigation against Coca-Cola and PepsiCo after their representative offices published a map showing the Crimean peninsula as Russian territory, Ukrainian MP Georgy Logvinsky said on January 21. “On January 11, 2016, a criminal investigation was launched based on signs of a crime…”, Mr. Logvinsky wrote on his personal Facebook page.

The crimes under investigation include intentional violation of the territorial integrity of Ukraine, illegal use of trademarks of products and services, illegal use of the company's name, as well as crimes related to the indication of the quality of the origin of products.

PepsiCo map.

The controversy erupted in Ukraine in early January when a Coca-Cola representative office published a map of Russia that included the Crimean peninsula. In response to calls for a boycott of Coca-Cola products by Ukrainians, the company’s representative office in Ukraine apologized, saying it was unaware that the Crimean peninsula appeared on the Russian map. Meanwhile, in Russia, PepsiCo’s representative office also showed the Black Sea peninsula as part of Russian territory.

In March 2014, the authorities of Crimea and the city of Sevastopol held a referendum on Crimea's annexation to Russia, in which the majority of the population supported the annexation. That same month, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed a treaty on Crimea's annexation to Russia, which was approved by the parliament three days later.

Despite the convincing results of the referendum, Kiev still refuses to recognize Crimea as part of Russia.

According to News