Russia's homegrown Wikipedia promises a 'different direction' from its inspiration: One where Yevgeny Prigozhin just happened to explode in mid-air

SoftwareRussia’s homegrown Wikipedia promises a ‘different direction’ from its inspiration: One where Yevgeny Prigozhin just happened to explode in mid-airWhen you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission.Here’s how it works.

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(Image credit: Alexey Nikolsky via Getty)

Vladimir Putin being shown something on a computer monitor

Efforts at digital sovereignty have taken many forms:Banning VPNs, investigating the possibility of anational game engine, and even the creation of aRussian Valve. But it’s also taken the form ofRuwiki(via404), a self-censoring domestic alternative to Wikipedia that copies over vast swathes of content with all politically dangerous content quietly excised.

That different direction is, as you might have guessed, one far more compliant with the general timbre of modern Russian propaganda than you can find on Wikipedia. For instance, Ruwiki’s article on Yevgeny Prigozhin—the departed leader of theWagner private military company—is a fair bit shorter than Wikipedia’s Russian-language version.

Similar quirks of editing and emphasis can be found across the website. The article on the poisoning of Sergei Skripal—a former Russian spy who worked as a double agent for the UK—goes to great lengths to express Russia’s official stance on the issue, and omits reference to a British, American, German, and French joint statement that pointed a finger at Russia as the party responsible for the attack from its “Positions of other countries” section.

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Likewise, entries on the Russian invasion of Ukraine are predictably edited: The article itself is titled “Military operations in Ukraine (from 2022),” the official euphemism for the war that the Russian government has deployed since it began.

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