Violations Of Laws Regarding The Ukraine Conflict, Russia Will Take Strict Steps Against The Wikimedia Foundation

Russian attack destroys buildings in Ukraine. (Wikimedia Commons/National Police of Ukraine)

JAKARTA - Russia's communications watchdog said on Wednesday it was taking steps to punish the Wikimedia Foundation, which hosts the online encyclopedia Wikipedia, for violating Russian laws surrounding the conflict in Ukraine.

In a statement, Roskomnadzor said Wikipedia still retains "prohibited material, including fakes about the course of special military operations on Ukrainian territory". And, that the search engine will be used to notify users that Wikimedia violates Russian law.

Writing on Telegram, deputy chairman of Russia's parliamentary committee on information policy Anton Gorelkin said the link to Wikipedia would be accompanied by a disclaimer warning users about the violation of the law by the Wikimedia Foundation.

Roskomnadzor said the measure would remain in effect until the Wikimedia Foundation fully complies with Russian law.

The Wikimedia Foundation on June 13 appealed the Moscow court ruling, imposing a fine of 5 million rubles (91,000 US dollars), for refusing to remove so-called disinformation from the Russian-language Wikipedia articles about the Ukraine conflict, including "Russian Invasion of Ukraine", "War Crimes during Russia's Invasion of Ukraine", and "Bucha Massacre".

It is known that Wikipedia, which says they offer "the second draft of history", is written and edited by volunteers in more than 300 languages.

With most independent Russian media shut down after the invasion of Ukraine, Wikipedia has become one of the last sources of fact-checked information about the war available to Russia.

Meanwhile, Russia introduced a new law on information-sharing regarding the conflict in Ukraine, shortly after the Kremlin ordered tens of thousands of troops to deploy to the country on February 24.

The narrative around the conflict, the largest in Europe since 1945, is highly contentious. Russia did not call what happened a “war” or “invasion”, criminalized the use of the two words, and instead framed it as a 'special military operation' to 'demilitarize and denazify' Ukraine.

Meanwhile, Ukraine and the West say Russia's framing is a figleaf aimed at justifying imperial-style wars of aggression.