Wikipedia May Be Blocked in Russia

Wikipedia may be blocked in Russia due to a law prohibiting the mass use of VPNs, says Anton Gorelkin, vice-chairman of the State Duma's Information Policy Committee. He noted on his Telegram channel that the necessary technical solution is already being developed by experts from the Regional Public Center for Internet Technologies (ROCIT). This information was reported by RTVI.

Gorelkin points out that there is an article on Wikipedia discussing ways to bypass VPN service blocks and highly recommending users to utilize them. At the same time, the deputy stated that Roskomnadzor had previously made a number of demands against Wikipedia, many of which have already received court rulings.

“There are legal grounds for blocking Wikipedia; it remains to ensure that it does not cause significant concern among users,” Gorelkin believes. He added that all the “valuable information” obtained from Wikipedia has already been replicated on other resources, such as the БРЭ portal, “Рувики,” and “Руниверсалисе” platforms. “It is only necessary to ensure that after the link to the Wikipedia article, users are prompted to open its secure version on one of its Russian analogues,” the deputy concluded.

As of March 1, a ban on the advertising or mass use of circumvention measures, including VPN services, has come into effect in Russia. Roskomnadzor's regulation will be in force until September 1, 2029. Experts have explained that such a solution will not change the situation for users. Specifically, the Executive Director of the Telecom Daily information and analytical agency, Denis Kuskov, stated that the number of users utilizing VPN services may only diminish through the removal or blocking of these services from app stores.