Russia to launch its own Wikipedia for "reliable" information

Amid the Kremlin's increasing control of the Internet comes news that the Russia Vladimir Putin's office plans to create its own version of Wikipedia, aiming to present the country "objectively and accurately." A statement from the Presidential Library states that the initiative aims to provide better information about Russia than what is offered by Wikipedia.

Analyses showed that Wikipedia "does not have sufficiently detailed and reliable information about the regions and life in Russia," the statement said.

And it is added that 50,000 books and documents have been collected to present Russia "objectively and accurately."

However, the new website will have a long way to go - Wikipedia is the sixth most popular website in the world and the Russian version has over a million entries.

Russian President Vladimir Putin is constantly pushing for increasingly strict Internet control measures, consistently facing accusations of censorship and attempts to silence his critics.

Last August, bloggers with more than 3,000 daily readers were required to register their identities in a special registry, while new rules now allow the government to block websites without judicial permission.

Source: news.in.gr