The Finnish national broadcaster Yle, during an interview with Finland’s President Sauli Niinistö, aired a map featuring Crimea as a part of Russia. The recorded interview was shortly thereafter posted on the TV company’s website. Ukraine’s Embassy was quick to notice it, taking to Facebook to express their rage and demanding that the map be edited.
Yle has since announced on its website that it has introduced corrections to the visual material, explaining that it was a mistake. The broadcaster referenced the Finnish government's Foreign and Security Policy Commission, which, as Yle put it, termed the Crimean referendum that led the peninsula to become part of Russia as “violating the Constitution” of Ukraine.
The Ukrainian diplomatic mission expressed their gratitude for the prompt response and correction. However, the recording of the interview with the Finnish president still sports the Crimean peninsula painted in the same yellow colour as Russia.
In March 2014, following a severe political crisis and coup d'etat in Kiev, the Supreme Council of the Crimea and the Sevastopol City Council adopted a declaration of the republic’s independence.
The referendum, which took place on 16 March in Crimea and Sevastopol, found that 96.77% of the republic’s citizens and 95.6 % of Sevastopol's residents were firmly for reunification with Russia. Two days later, Russian President Vladimir Putin signed agreements to this end, while Ukraine and its Europeans supporters refused to accept the outcome of the referendum.
