By John Glenday

An apparently innocuous New Year message issued by Coca-Cola has left consumers in Ukraine and Russia seeing red following the decision to first include the disputed territory of Crimea before erasing it.

Russia annexed the peninsula in March 2014 at the height of a proxy war with the Ukraine, a move which has been at the heart of simmering local and international tensions ever since.

It was into this morass that Coca-Cola unwittingly tread with their Russian New Year’s message published on VK, the largest social network in Russia, after it opted to erase the territory.

Following a backlash from nationalists Coca-Cola hastily Read full story ›

Source: The Drum