Europe | Ignorance is strength

The Kremlin is rewriting Wikipedia

A new version of history is taking shape

 John Hurt in 1984
DoubleplusungoodPhotograph: Alamy

WIKIPEDIA had faced trouble from the Kremlin before, with Russian censors threatening it almost from the start of the Ukraine war in 2014. But it was only in late 2023, with the appearance of glitzy ads across Moscow, that a serious plan to replace it became clear. RuWiki, as the censors’ project is known, is mostly a straightforward copy of Wikipedia. But the most sensitive moments of history have been left out or rewritten. The Kremlin’s ideologues hope that millions of Russians will now embrace these new versions as the truth.

Explore more

This article appeared in the Europe section of the print edition under the headline “Ignorance is strength”

How to raise the world’s IQ

From the July 13th 2024 edition

Discover stories from this section and more in the list of contents

Explore the edition

More from Europe

Will a new “pact” of ten laws help Europe ease its migrant woes?

It will require an extraordinary number of institutions to work together

Amid the bombs, Ukrainians rediscover the beach

Odessa gives itself permission to tan again


Who was behind the arson attacks on railways before the Olympics?

With thousands stranded, suspicion falls on Russia or Iran


Italian right-wingers have renamed Milan’s airport after Silvio Berlusconi

A finger in the eye of those who detested the late populist leader

European countries are banding together on missile defence

The Ukraine war shows how dangerously few interceptors they have

Peter Magyar is reinvigorating Hungary’s struggling opposition

Attacking Viktor Orban’s corruption wins votes for a political newcomer