With the exodus of so much western technology from Russia following its 2022 invasion of Ukraine, one of Vladimir Putin's priorities has been the attainment of «digital sovereignty»: homegrown tech (and tech companies) that can't be yanked away by western rivals when Russia does something to displease them.
Efforts at digital sovereignty have taken many forms: Banning VPNs, investigating the possibility of a national game engine, and even the creation of a Russian Valve.
But it's also taken the form of Ruwiki (via 404), a self-censoring domestic alternative to Wikipedia that copies over vast swathes of content with all politically dangerous content quietly excised.
Ruwiki is helmed by former Wikimedia RU head Vladimir Medeyko. Wikimedia RU—the Russian branch of the Wikimedia Foundation—was hastily shuttered last year after one of its other heads, Stanislav Kozlovsky, was made aware he risked being added to the Russian government's list of «foreign agents,» and was made to resign from his 25-year post at Moscow State University.
Medeyko experienced no such trouble, and has slotted into his new position at Ruwiki with a pledge to take it «in a different direction» to plain old Wikipedia.