The Kremlin has decided to rewrite "Wikipedia" and create a new version of history, reports The Economist.

Specifically, Moscow aims to achieve this through its own censored version of the RuWiki resource.

"Wikipedia" has faced challenges from the Kremlin before, with Russian censors threatening it almost from the beginning of the conflict in Ukraine in 2014. However, the publication noted that it only became clear at the end of 2023 that Moscow was serious about replacing it.

RuWiki, as Russian censors call the project, is largely a direct copy of "Wikipedia." However, in the Russian version, the most sensitive historical moments are omitted or rewritten. Kremlin ideologues hope that millions of Russians will now accept these revised versions as truth.

The RuWiki project could be called Orwellian if the British author were not subject to periodic censorship himself. For example, the article about "1984" lacks the site's usual description of Winston Smith's Ministry of Truth, which "corrects" the historical record.

The atrocities committed by Russians in Bucha near Kyiv in 2022 are reinterpreted as a "Ukrainian and Western disinformation campaign." Kherson, destroyed by Russian bombs, is mentioned without any reference to the war. The execution of nearly 22,000 Polish officers in Katyn in 1940 has been rewritten to cast doubt on archival documents proving it was carried out by Soviet special services.

There is no mention of "Putin h..ylo!" — a contemptuous catchphrase mocking the Russian leader. All references to Alexei Navalny, considered a Russian opposition leader, have been changed to describe him merely as a "blogger."

An analysis of the site by the independent Russian media organization Mediazona shows that the vast majority of new edits are made during business hours on weekdays. This suggests that the editing is done by teams of paid authors, unlike Wikipedia's volunteer model.