A Russian court has ruled that the Wikimedia Foundation violated local misinformation laws in articles about the occupation of Ukraine. The organization filed an appeal on June 6, claiming that the articles contained “true, proven information” and that Russia did not have any jurisdiction over the global Wikimedia Foundation.

What is known about the case

A Moscow court fines Wikimedia 5 million rubles (about $65,000). This was the result of Roskomnadzor’s April decision on seven Russian-language articles, including:

• Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022).
• War crimes during the Russian invasion of Ukraine.
• Bombing of a hospital in Mariupol.
• Massacre in Bucha.

All these materials were said to be fake despite hundreds of evidences against Russia.

This decision means that reliable, verified Wikipedia information that does not match the Russian government’s reports is false information. The government has focused on information vital to people’s lives during the crisis. We call on the Court to reconsider its decision in favor of everyone’s right to access information and freedom of expression,
– said Stephen Laport, Deputy General Counsel for the Wikimedia Foundation.

In the past, Roskomnadzor periodically asked Wikipedia to remove content that was objectionable to the Kremlin, and was even blocked for a time due to the site’s rejection in Russia. However, this battle with service and other resources intensified significantly after the Russian invasion. Given the current state of Russia’s full-fledged judicial system, the Wikimedia Foundation is unlikely to win the appeal. However, the racists will not be able to impose the fine in the event of a loss, as the company has not duly opened an office in Russia and therefore has no property that can be confiscated there. Russia added Wikipedia to its “exit” list in May. We wrote about what this means for the company.