USA Today, America’s top daily in circulation, published a map of Ukraine without Crimea on the front page of its Tuesday issue as Western countries do not recognize that the Black Sea peninsula is now part of Russia.
Crimean voters backed reunification with Russia by an overwhelming 96 percent majority in a referendum held on March 16. Russia’s reunification with its former republic led to the current political standoff between Moscow and largely pro-Kiev Western countries that have refused to recognize the legitimacy of the vote.
The newspaper has not commented on whether the decision to publish the map is a result of a conscious change in its editorial policy.
USA Today published the map of Ukraine without Crimea in the upper left corner of its front page.