Type of site | Online encyclopedia |
---|---|
Available in | Russian |
Predecessor(s) | Russian Wikipedia |
Country of origin | Russia |
Founder(s) | Vladimir Medeyko |
URL | ruwiki |
Launched | 15 January 2024 |
Content license | Creative Commons Public License Attribution-Shared Terms 4.0 International |
Ruwiki (Russian: Рувики, romanized: Ruviki) is a Russian online encyclopedia.[1] It was launched in July 2023 as a fork of the Russian Wikipedia,[1] and has been described by some media groups as "Putin-friendly" and "Kremlin-compliant".[2][3] A full-scale launch took place on January 15, 2024.[4]
The project is led by Vladimir Medeyko, who was formerly involved with the Russian Wikipedia project and a director of Wikimedia Russia.[1][5] Medeyko has been reported to have created the project as an alternative to the Russian Wikipedia that is more friendly to the Russian government.[3]
The words "рувики" and its English version, "ruwiki", have long been used to refer to Russian Wikipedia among Wikipedians.[6]
On 24 May 2023, long-time Wikimedia Russia director Vladimir Medeyko announced Ruwiki as a Russian fork of Wikipedia on the Russian technology website Habr.[7] The Russian politician Anton Gorelkin stated that the new "ruviki" website would be hosted on Russian servers and managed by a Russian organization.[8] Medeyko has stated that Ruwiki will follow Russian laws, but is independent of the Russian government.[3]
Ruwiki was created by copying all 1.9 million articles from the Russian Wikipedia, as well as several media components from Wikimedia Commons,[9] and data items from Wikidata. However, articles containing content contrary to the Russian government's official line have been removed.[1][3] Removals of content considered "anti-Russian propaganda" include coverage of the Russo-Ukraine War, the Wagner rebellion, and criticism of Vladimir Putin.[2]
In mid-July 2023, Ruwiki was not yet editable by third parties. Medeyko had stated that he plans to allow public editing to resume, but that content will be vetted by panels of experts.[3] Nevertheless, as of August 2023, Ruwiki was available to edit by all registered accounts.[10]
In January 2024, it was reported that Ruwiki would enter full public service on Monday 15 January.[11] Ruwiki confirmed the statements shortly thereafter, announcing the "end of beta testing on January 15, 2024".[12]
There were other Russian encyclopedic projects advertised as an alternative to Wikipedia: an online portal to Great Russian Encyclopedia[13] and a wiki (Znanie.wiki) by the Znanie Society ("Knowledge Society"), inherited from the Soviet times.[14]