Russian Wikipedia Ruwiki to launch today

Ruwiki set to launch: The official launch of Ruwiki, a Russian iteration of the widely used Wikipedia encyclopedia, is scheduled for Monday, as per Russian media reports. Commencing beta testing in mid-2023, Ruwiki underwent limited audience trials, and reportedly, it already boasts more articles than the Russian-language section of Wikipedia. 

Despite this, Russia has not indicated plans to block Wikipedia, which has remained one of the few independent sources of information in the country following increased state control over online content after the invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, according to Reuters.

Although Russian courts have imposed fines on Wikipedia for Ukraine-related content, the country's President, Vladimir Putin, approved the development of alternative platforms to Wikipedia in May 2022, as reported by Russian media.

Most-read articles

During the beta testing phase, Ruwiki's press service, cited by Izvestia newspaper, noted that the most-read articles included topics such as a list of deaths in 2023, the escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Russia's military operation in Ukraine, and the highest-grossing films in Russia.

In terms of user engagement, the average user spent more than six minutes on the site, and the average viewing depth exceeded five pages during the trial phase, according to Izvestia.

While the founders of Ruwiki have not disclosed the project's cost or the names of its investors, reports from Kommersant suggest that the Russian-language platform is poised for a significant launch.

(With Reuters inputs)