Russia’s State-Sponsored Wikipedia Clone: How Censorship Taints Reliability and Neutrality

The Russian government has recently created a state-sponsored online encyclopedia called Ruviki, which is essentially a clone of the original Russian Wikipedia. This version of Wikipedia follows the same editing rules as other countries, but is rigorously edited to comply with Russian laws. The content in Ruviki has been completely rewritten to avoid any data or information that may cast a negative light on the government, including mentions of “foreign agents,” individuals or entities that express opinions about the government and are supported by outside nations.

Wikimedia RU, the Russian-language chapter of the nonprofit organization that runs Wikipedia, was forced to shut down due to political pressure related to the war in Ukraine. Vladimir Medeyko, the former head of this chapter, now runs Ruviki and has stated that Wikipedia had issues with reliability and neutrality. He announced plans to copy and censor the 1.9 million Russian-language Wikipedia articles, with the goal of providing “reliable” information for Russian users. Articles on topics such as the war in Ukraine, torture in prisons, and scandals involving the Russian government have been either removed or heavily edited in Ruviki.

Graphic designer Constantine Konovalov highlighted the significant changes made between Wikipedia RU and Ruviki articles on various topics, including free speech, human rights, political prisoners, and censorship in Russia. He described the censorship as reminiscent of a novel like “1984,” and noted that even