Russian President Vladimir Putin told Russians not to trust the online encyclopedia, after it refused to remove information about the country's invasion of Ukraine.
Putin is in the Kremlin Thursday.
According to a translation from Kevin, Putin said in an interview with Russian state media that you can't just use the site because of the quality of information.
The Russian edition of the encyclopedia did not remove information on the war from its approved narrative, including estimates from the Ukrainian government on the death toll among Russian troops and Ukrainian civilians.
The only places in Russia where Russians can access war information is on websites like Wikipedia and YouTube, despite the government's repeated threats.
The Wikimedia Foundation did not immediately respond to Forbes' request for comment, but a foundation spokesman told Forbes in April that the Russian government did not change Wikimedia.
The Wikimedia Foundation reported that the Russian media regulator demanded that Wikipedia take down content about Russia's invasion of Ukraine. On March 31, the Russian public was threatened with a fine of about $61,000 for Wikimedia's refusal to do so. The war is a crime that can be punished with up to 15 years in prison. Since the invasion began, most independent news outlets and social media platforms have left the country.
The government planned to invest about $26 million in the project after Putin suggested that the online encyclopedia be replaced with a Kremlin-approved competitor. Russia shared plans for its own online encyclopedia as early as 2014, but the project does not seem to be close to completion.
Russia wants the internet to take down information about the war.
Putin wants a Russian version of the encyclopedia.
A top editor of the encyclopedia has been arrested.
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