The Russian government has backed a legislative amendment that would classify any map that disputed the country’s “territorial integrity” as extremist materials, according to state media. The change to the country’s anti-extremism laws would make punishable “cartographic and other documents and images” that differ from Moscow’s definition of the Russian Federation, the report said, adding that the amendment emerged after its authors said some maps circulating in Russia disputed the “territorial affiliation” of Crimea and the Kuril Islands. Moscow annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, and Russia’s dispute with Japan over ownership of a group of islands off the Japanese coast dates back to World War II. The regions in eastern Ukraine annexed by Russian President Vladimir Putin would also be likely to be affected by the new ban if it is successfully passed into law.
Read it at Reuters
