Russia fines Wikipedia for second time over article about war in Ukraine
A Moscow court again fined Wikipedia for refusing to remove an article in Russian about Russia's full-scale invasion of Ukraine, RFE/RL reported.
The court fined the Wikimedia Foundation, which owns Wikipedia, 2 million rubles (around $25,000) for refusing to remove an article titled "Russian occupation of Zaporizhzhia Oblast."
While Russia has partially only occupied Ukraine's southeastern Zaporizhzhia Oblast, it laid claim to the entirety of the region through sham referendums held in September 2022.
Russia first fined the Wikimedia Foundation 5 million rubles ($88,000) in June 2022 for refusing to remove articles about the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russian war crimes during the war, and the Bucha massacre, labeling the articles "disinformation."
Early on in Russia's full-scale invasion, Russia's communications regulator Roskomnadzor announced in April 2022 that it had sent a request to Wikipedia to immediately remove "inaccurate information on a special military operation of the Russian Federation in Ukraine aimed at misinformation of Russian users," threatening the company with fines.
Russia has waged a domestic information war, criminalizing and imposing jail terms for up to 15 years for spreading what it refers to as "fake news" about the war and Russia's military.
Russian prosecutors on April 6 demanded a 25-year prison sentence for well-known Kremlin critic Vladimir Kara-Murza, accused of treason, spreading "false information" about Russia's military and facilitating the activities of an “undesirable organization.”
In March 2022, he condemned Russia's full-scale war against Ukraine before the Arizona House of Representatives, calling Russian dictator Vladimir Putin's administration "a regime of murderers."
