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<p class="MsoNormal">Russia Decries Google's Use Of Ukrainian Spellings For Crimean Places<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">http://www.rferl.org/content/russia-decries-google-use-ukrainian-spellings-crimean-places-streets-google-map/27887490.html<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">July 29, 2016<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">U.S. tech giant Google came under fire in Russia for using Ukraine's "decommunized" spellings for street names in parts of Crimea, which Moscow annexed illegally from Ukraine in 2014.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Google Maps has adopted Ukrainian versions of some 900 place names in Crimea in line with a "decommunization" law Kyiv passed last year.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"I think it's a short-sighted policy," Russian Minister of Communications Nikolai Nikiforov told Rossiya 24 television on July 28, adding he hopes "the mistake is corrected."<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"If Google pays so little attention to Russian law and the names of Russian localities then it will not be able to do business effectively on Russian territory," Nikiforov warned.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Sergei Aksyonov, the head of Crimea's Russia-controlled government, accused Google Maps of producing a "propaganda product rather than real maps" by using Ukrainian transliterations for the area.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">A Russian spokesman for Google said the firm was working on ensuring that the Russian version of the localities would be incorporated into the Russian-language version of Google Maps.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><o:p> </o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">"We are actively working on giving [localities] their old names in the Russian version of Google Maps," the spokesman told Ukrainian financial daily RBK.<o:p></o:p></p>
<p class="MsoNormal">Based on reporting by AFP and Interfax<o:p></o:p></p>
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