INFORMATION WAR: Kremlin censors move to block Wikipedia in Russia

The Kremlin’s censorship bureau is threatening to block Wikipedia from users in Russia over an entry about the invasion of Ukraine which details Russian military casualties since Putin’s “special military operation” began last Thursday.

The editors of Wikipedia’s Russian language page received a memo on Tuesday from Roskomnadzor – Russia’s communication’s regulator – informing them that a Russian-language article titled “Russian invasion of Ukraine (2022)” violates Russian law, the New York Post reported.

Roskomnadzor (Russian censorship agency) has threatened to block all of Wikipedia from Russia due to its "Russian Invasion into Ukraine" article. Their main gripes: it lists Russian soldier casualty figures and describes how Ukrainian civilians/children are being killed. https://t.co/BvjttdEHrP

— Aric Toler (@AricToler) March 1, 2022

According to the censors, the article “contains false messages about terrorist attacks or other kind of information of public concern disseminated under the guise of reliable information that threatens life and (or) health of citizens.”

The “illegally distributed information” listed by Roskomnadzor includes "reports about numerous casualties among service personnel of the Russian Federation and also the civilian population of Ukraine, including children,” Reuters reported.

Although the Kremlin has yet to publish any official figures outlining its military casualties, it has stated that its losses have been far lower than those of the defending Ukrainian forces.

On Tuesday, the United Nations published a report showing that at least 136 civilians have been killed, including 13 children, and 400 have been injured since Russia launched its bloody invasion.

U.N. Human Rights spokesperson Liz Throssell has warned that “the real toll is likely to be much higher,” however, adding that 253 of the casualties were in the Donetsk and Lugansk regions in eastern Ukraine.

In a press release issued on Tuesday, the Wikimedia Foundation said it was “actively working with affected communities to identify potential threats to information on Wikimedia projects, and supporting volunteer editors and administrators who serve as a first line of defense against manipulation of facts and knowledge.”

The Russian acronym Roskomnadzor stands for the “Federal Service for Supervision of Communication, Information Technology, and Mass Media.”