Kiev Boils Over Kazakh Textbooks Including Crimea as Part of Russia

The government of Ukraine sent an official complaint to the Kazakh Foreign Ministry demanding the withdrawal of textbooks from Kazakh schools, in which Crimea is marked as part of the Russian Federation.

After the Crimean referendum, which resulted in the reunification of the peninsula with Russia, some Kazakh textbooks marked Crimea as part of the Russian Federation, a statement of a Ukrainian chargé d'affaires in Kazakhstan said.

"Due to the fact that textbooks in secondary schools, issued by the Kazakh publishing house Mektep, specify the Autonomous Republic of Crimea as the subject of the Russian Federation, the embassy of Ukraine filed a protest note to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Republic of Kazakhstan," the document said, as cited by Kazakhstan News.

Kiev believes that the spread of this information by the publishing house doesn't conform to the position of the international community and the government of Kazakhstan.

Crimea rejoined Russia in March 2014, after more than 96 percent of voters backed the move in a referendum, which was not recognized as legitimate by Kiev and the West. Moscow maintains that the referendum was held in accordance with international law.

The West and Kiev did not recognize the legitimacy of the vote, imposing sanctions on Russia over what it calls the Crimean "annexation." Moscow has pointed out that the referendum was held in accordance with international law.