Alexander Lewis 
Jan 16, 2024
A Russian version of Wikipedia — a popular internet encyclopedia — named Ruviki is expected to go live in a few hours with more articles than the Russian-language segment of Wikipedia.
It should be noted that Beta testing of Ruviki started in the second half of 2023 with a limited number of people having access to the site for testing.
Since the announcement of the project concerns regarding Russia blocking Wikipedia began surfacing, however, Russian media reported that Moscow has no intention of blocking Wikipedia.
Ruviki’s development began after Russian President Vladimir Putin gave the green light to create Wikipedia’s alternative platforms in May 2022.
Read more: Microsoft brings affordable AI power with $20 Copilot Pro subscription
Last week, the Izvestia newspaper, citing Ruviki's press service, reported 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.
Izvestia reported that 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.
Kommersant — nationally distributed daily newspaper published in Russia — said that the founders of Ruviki would not disclose how much the project had cost or the names of the site's investors.
