Ruviki is a new digital encyclopedia supported by the Russian state. A clone of the original Russian Wikipedia that was wildly edited leave out anything that exposes the Russian government and its new Tsar Putin.

Few may be surprised that in an age of hoaxes and disinformation, the world’s biggest censors are free to roam. The Russian government has under its command, directly on the payroll or indirectly by contract and payment, some of the most important cybercrime groups on the planet. It is well known how they interfered (and still do) in elections around the world and try to influence the popular will and fakenews They are the preferred method of use.

Of course, Tsar Putin doesn’t just work in the backyards of rival countries, he also works in his own house, and Ruviki is here to prove it. Sold as an informational resource “more reliable for Russians” to remove anything that makes your government look badthey copy all Russian Wikipedia articles and edit them strictly, they say they follow Russian laws.

Ruviki, the censored Wikipedia

Graphic designer Constantine Konovalov calculated the number of characters changed between almost two million UK Wikipedia and Ruviki articles on the same topics, with 205,000 changes found in articles on freedom of expression; 158,000 amendments to human rights articles; 96,000 changes to articles on political prisoners; and 71,000 changes to articles on censorship in Russia.

Specifically, the new articles exclude mention of “foreign agents,” the Russian government’s designation for any person or entity that expresses opinions about the government and receives financial or other support from a foreign nation. Notable “agents” include a foundation created by the company Alexei Navalny a famous Russian opposition leader who died (assassinated) in prison in February, and Memorial, an organization dedicated to preserving the memory of victims of Soviet terrorism, which was liquidated in 2022. An article in Ruvik about Navalny claims that he was a “video blogger” known for his “participation in extremist or terrorist activities”.

As for the Ukrainian war, which is also being fought in cyberspace, it has special treatment in Putin’s encyclopedia. O 110 articles were removed entirely, while others were heavily modified. For example, the article “Russian invasion of Ukraine” became “Military actions in Ukraine”. The Wikipedia article begins with a timeline of the invasion and states that it was welcomed by a “international condemnation”. On the other hand, Ruviki’s article begins by stating that the war was waged “ensure Russia’s security” and “demilitarize Ukraine”.

Some critics claim that Putin’s censorship was taken directly from “1984”, George Orwell’s famous dystopian novel. Curiously, he article by Ruviki about the novel, omit quite the ‘Ministry of Truth’, the main means of propaganda included in Orwell’s work.

Bad times in Russia and around the world… Beware of hoaxes and misinformation… Related to all this and a few weeks before the European elections The European Union opened an investigation against Meta for not doing enough against all the garbage flooding their social media. Russia is not specifically mentioned, but we all know who is behind it.