Russia threatens Wikipedia with a fine of 4 million rubles for articles about the invasion of Ukraine. Roskomnadzor, the Russian media regulator, asked the platform to remove “inaccurate information on a special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine aimed at disinforming Russian users”. It is one of Moscow’s many attempts to censor the media and tighten the circle around the free encyclopedia. The Kremlin in early March already threatened to block Wikipedia for the ‘Invasion of Russia into Ukraine’ page which, according to Moscow, contained inaccurate information on Ukrainian civilian and Russian military casualties.
The Wikimedia Foundation, which heads the platform, replied that it would not be intimidated. On 11 March Mark Bernstein, blogger and editor of Russian Wikipedia, was arrested by the Belarusian police on suspicion of violating the Moscow law on fake news approved by the Duma in those days, contemplates fines and imprisonment of up to 15 years . Wikipedia created the ‘Detention of Mark Bernstein’ page. In recent weeks there has been a boom in downloads of the Russian version of Wikipedia: users fear the platform will be darkened.