Coca-Cola`s Happy New Year upsets Russians and Ukrainians alike

However, by including the Crimea in its map of Russia, Coca-Cola is now under fire in the Ukraine where there were demands to boycott the drink.

“I can only apologize for this as it simply should never have happened”, wrote Clyde C. Tuggle, senior vice president of the global beverage giant, in a letter to the Ukrainian Embassy in Washington dated January 6.

A spokesperson for the company told CNBC in an email that the stylized map was changed by a hired agency without the company’s knowledge or approval.

On 30 December the company posted a holiday greetings message via VKontakte (Russia’s most popular social media network) that included a map of Russia flagged with Christmas trees.

Russian Internet users were also outraged at the absence of the Crimean peninsula, which Russia annexed in March 2014, triggering the conflict in eastern Ukraine that killed more than 9,000 people so far.

Faced with barrage of criticism from Russian VK users, it published the map again on Tuesday – this time with Crimea – and apologized.

Russians celebrated the appearance of Crimea on the map.

In a statement released on Wednesday, the U.S. drinks manufacturer said it did not “support any political movements”, adding: “The company has removed the post and apologises for the situation that occurred”.

Later the company also issued an apology to Ukrainians, and removed the advert entirely. In a statement posted on its website, the embassy said it had “expressed its concerns to the Coca-Cola company and the U.S. Department of State about the posting in social media by Coca-Cola’s Russian office of a map of Russia that included the illegally occupied Crimea”. It noted the USA has condemned Russia’s annexation of Crimea.

Mustafa Nayyem, a Ukrainian member of parliament from President Petro Poroshenko’s party, urged consumers on Facebook to boycott Coke products and take up the hashtag #BanCocaCola.

Coca-Cola’s map of Russian Federation caused controversy.