<p>A full-scale launch of Ruwiki, a Russian version of the popular Wikipedia internet encyclopedia, will take place on Monday, according to Russian media reports.</p><p>Beta testing - a limited audience testing of the site - started in mid-2023, the daily Kommersant reported, and there were reportedly already more articles in Ruwiki than in the Russian-language segment of Wikipedia.</p><p>Russia has said it was not yet planning to block Wikipedia - one of the few surviving independent sources of information in Russia since a state crackdown on online content intensified after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.</p><p>Russian courts, however, have handed the online encyclopedia a series of fines over Ukraine-related content since.</p>.North Korea fires missile, minister to visit Russia as tensions rise.<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his approval to new alternative platforms to Wikipedia in May of 2022, according to Russian media.</p><p>The <em>Izvestia</em> newspaper reported last week, citing Ruwiki's press service, that the most-read articles during the beta testing phase included a list of deaths in 2023, the escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Russia's military operation in Ukraine and the highest-grossing films in Russia.</p><p>The average user would spend more than six minutes on the site, and the average viewing depth was over five pages in the trial phase, <em>Izvestia</em> reported.</p><p>Kommersant said that the founders of Ruwiki would not disclose how much the project had cost or the names of the site's investors.</p>
<p>A full-scale launch of Ruwiki, a Russian version of the popular Wikipedia internet encyclopedia, will take place on Monday, according to Russian media reports.</p><p>Beta testing - a limited audience testing of the site - started in mid-2023, the daily Kommersant reported, and there were reportedly already more articles in Ruwiki than in the Russian-language segment of Wikipedia.</p><p>Russia has said it was not yet planning to block Wikipedia - one of the few surviving independent sources of information in Russia since a state crackdown on online content intensified after Moscow's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.</p><p>Russian courts, however, have handed the online encyclopedia a series of fines over Ukraine-related content since.</p>.North Korea fires missile, minister to visit Russia as tensions rise.<p>Russian President Vladimir Putin gave his approval to new alternative platforms to Wikipedia in May of 2022, according to Russian media.</p><p>The <em>Izvestia</em> newspaper reported last week, citing Ruwiki's press service, that the most-read articles during the beta testing phase included a list of deaths in 2023, the escalation of the Arab-Israeli conflict, Russia's military operation in Ukraine and the highest-grossing films in Russia.</p><p>The average user would spend more than six minutes on the site, and the average viewing depth was over five pages in the trial phase, <em>Izvestia</em> reported.</p><p>Kommersant said that the founders of Ruwiki would not disclose how much the project had cost or the names of the site's investors.</p>