Stanislav Kozlovsky, managing director of the nonprofit partnership Wikimedia.Ru (which supports the Russian version of Wikipedia), told socialbites.ca that another fine is not a precursor to blocking the service. Earlier, the court fined the owner of an online encyclopedia 2 million rubles for refusing to remove articles about the three military units of the Russian Federation.
“According to the law this is not connected, the blocking should have been done immediately. So this fine decision has nothing to do with blocking. If the government believes these articles violate something, Wikipedia will be blocked. It’s not blocked. In this case, the court does not have a restraining order. Regarding the fines, this will be decided by the Wikimedia Foundation. Last time they challenged all these decisions in subsequent courts. Some are successful, some are not,” Kozlovsky explained.
He added that a decision on the possible removal of the articles has not yet been made.
According to TASS, Wikipedia was fined for refusing to remove articles about the 74th Guards Motor Rifle Brigade, 138th Separate Motor Rifle Brigade, 92nd Missile Brigade, as well as material about military operations in Ukraine.
This is the fourth such punishment for the online encyclopedia.