Russian court fines Wikipedia for article about war in Ukraine again

A Moscow court has once again fined Wikipedia for a Russian-language article about Russia's invasion of Ukraine, which it refused to remove.

Source: Russian state-owned news outlet RIA Novosti; Radio Svoboda

Details: As RIA Novosti noted, a justice of the peace for the judicial district of the Tagansky district of Moscow has fined the Wikimedia Foundation 2 million roubles (about $24,600) for not removing fakes about the actions of the Russian army in Zaporizhzhia Oblast from Wikipedia.

This is already the sixth fine imposed on Wikimedia, with the total amount of the fine reaching 11.8 million roubles (about $147,600). In April, the court will consider three more protocols regarding the foundation.

It is the latest in a series of moves by the Russian government to silence objective coverage or criticism of the war and limit the Russian public's access to information.

Background: In November 2022, Russia fined the US-based Wikimedia Foundation Inc., which manages Wikipedia, 2 million roubles for refusing to "remove fakes about the Russian special operation" ("special operation" in the Russian Federation is an official name for the full-scale invasion of Ukraine).

Wikimedia Foundation has appealed against a fine of almost $90,000 levied against Russian Wikipedia for its articles about the Russian invasion of Ukraine and war crimes in Bucha, Kyiv Oblast, and other cities.

At the start of the full-scale Russian invasion, Russian authorities warned Wikipedia on 2 March 2022 that it would be blocked if the online encyclopaedia did not remove or correct an article about Russian armed aggression in Ukraine and the world's reaction. The Russian authorities sent a second warning to Wikipedia at the end of March, suggesting that the fine for all this could amount to several million roubles.

In April 2022, the Russian Federal Service for Monitoring Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) sent a reprimand to Russian-language Wikipedia, saying that the Internet encylopedia's page about Putin contained untruths about the invasion of Ukraine and the Russian President's chauvinism in relations with the neighbouring country.

At the end of May, Russia implemented a draft law that required owners of large Internet resources to register their representative offices in Russia. The Wikimedia Foundation responded, saying that the opening of a representative office would mean that Russian security forces would be able to monitor and punish Wikipedia for information on its web pages that is not convenient for the Kremlin.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said that it would be good to establish an alternative Russian Wikipedia that would be controlled by the Kremlin.

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