Wikimedia RU

Wikimedia Foundation Inc is a non-profit organization that provides a material basis for a number of Internet communities that create freely distributed content, the most famous of which is the free Wikipedia encyclopedia. The fund's activities are carried out thanks to voluntary donations. The very work of creating "free content" (texts and images distributed under GFDL licenses, CC-BY (-SA), or in the public domain) and "free code" (program code distributed under the GPL license) is done by volunteers from all over the world. The establishment of the Wikimedia Foundation on June 20, 2003 was announced by the founder of the already existing Wikipedia Jimmy Wales.

The foundation's activities are supported by a network of 21 regional offices around the world, whose work is also provided by volunteers. Currently, there are regional offices in Australia, Austria, Argentina,, Brazil,, Hungary, Great Britain Germany Hong Kong,, Israel Indonesia,, (Italy China Taiwan),, Netherlands Norway, Poland,, Serbia, Russia Thailand,,, and. France Czech Republic Despite Sweden Switzerland the use of the term "regional branches," these are independent organizations that combine with the "parent" fund a common goal - to promote the creation and distribution of licensed free educational materials.

Wikimedia RU

The non-profit partnership to promote the dissemination of encyclopedic knowledge "Wikimedia RU" is a legally independent organization created to promote the development of projects on the territory of the Russian Federation related to the creation and dissemination of free for use encyclopedic, educational and other information reflecting the knowledge accumulated by humanity. The leading project of this type is the free Internet encyclopedia "Wikipedia," the Russian-language section of which is one of the main objects of the activities of "Wikimedia RU."

NP Wikimedia RU works in close connection with more than two dozen organizations in other countries, and with Wikimedia Foundation Inc., which is a non-profit organization that provides a material basis for a number of Internet communities that create freely distributed content, the most famous of which is the free encyclopedia Wikipedia.

The idea to create a non-profit organization that contributes to the development of the Wikipedia Internet encyclopedia in the Russian Federation appeared back in 2005, but active preparation began only in the fall of 2007. On May 24, 2008, the prepared constituent documents received the approval of the Council of Attorneys of the Wikimedia Foundation - this date is considered the date of foundation of the Russian organization in Wikimedia projects. On November 21, 2008, NP Wikimedia RU was entered into the register of registered non-profit organizations, which marked the end of the legal registration procedure.

The non-profit partnership Wikimedia RU is engaged in the support and popularization of wiki projects in the Russian Federation in all languages. The main efforts are turned to projects in Russian and other languages ​ ​ of Russia - Ossetian, Udmurt, Chuvash, etc. The organization faces the following tasks:

Supporting the following Wikimedia Foundation projects:

• Wikipedia is a free encyclopedia (a section in Russian, which is one of the 10 largest language sections, as well as its "small sections" in the languages ​ ​ of the peoples of Russia)

Sections in Russian of such projects as:

• Wiktionary - a free dictionary and thesaurus;
• Vikings - co-writing news;
• Wikiuchebnik - a project for the development of free training materials;
• Wikicitatnik - a free collection of quotes;
• Vikiteka - a repository of freely distributed texts (including texts of historical documents and comments on them, bibliographies, etc.);
• Wikisclad is a multilingual centralized storage of images and other media files under free licenses.

As part of the support for these projects, it is planned to establish contacts with specialists in various fields, organize access for project participants to archival materials, issue certificates to photographers, obtain permits for professional photography and copying (including paid ones), collect and store documented permissions for authors to use materials on Wikipedia, participate in solving technical problems facing the Wikimedia Foundation, as well as much more.

Popularization of the very idea of ​ ​ working in free projects, including the involvement of scientists and specialists. Resolution of legal issues, such as obtaining necessary and sufficient explanations on the publication in Russia of materials with a GFDL license and other free licenses.

Helping other organizations distribute and use Wikimedia project materials. Organization of conferences and seminars related to the activities of Wikimedia projects.

Publication of selected materials of Wikimedia projects - from sections in Russian, as well as "small sections" in the languages ​ ​ of the peoples of Russia.

Establishing partnerships with museums, libraries, secondary and higher education institutions, publishing houses, Internet providers, search engines, and any other organizations that share the goals of NP Wikimedia RU or can help in their implementation.

Establishing partnerships with payment systems to facilitate the participation of citizens of the Russian Federation in a global campaign to collect donations to support the operability of Wikimedia projects.

NP Wikimedia RU welcomes any assistance to solve all these problems within the framework of the global tasks of NP Wikimedia RU and the Wikimedia Foundation - the organization of free access to all knowledge accumulated by humanity.

Wikipedia

Main article: Wikipedia (Wikipedia)

History

2023

Closing the organization

On December 19, 2023, the non-profit partnership (NP) Wikimedia RU announced the termination of work. The organization existed for about 15 years, supporting the development of the Russian segment of Wikipedia.

Director of NP Stanislav Kozlovsky told RBC about the closure of Wikimedia RU. He said that he was summoned to the dean of the Faculty of Psychology of Moscow State University, where he worked for 25 years, and said that next Friday, December 22, 2023, according to "reliable information," the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation will include him in the register of foreign agents. After that, as Kozlovsky says, he was offered to quit of his own free will, which he did.

The community of support for the Russian version of Wikipedia "Викимедиа.ру" is closed

Then they held a meeting of Wikimedia RU. We decided that no one needs such risks. We will close the organization, - said Kozlovsky.

He said that he did not know what foreign funding he had discovered from the Ministry of Justice of the Russian Federation. However, it suggests that the possible status of the foreign agent may be directly related to Wikipedia^[1]

Probably yes, [it's related to "Wikipedia"]. Some foreign funding there. But I work as an employee of Moscow State University, I go on a business trip to the Baku branch of Moscow State University. Maybe they want to recognize me as a foreign agent of Azerbaijan? I don't know. In any case, we will close the organization, - said the director of "Викимедиа.ру."

In a comment to TASS, Kozlovsky expressed the hope that Wikipedia will continue to work in Russia, as before. He also stressed that Викимедиа.ру did not manage Wikipedia, but prepared textbooks and online courses on editing an electronic encyclopedia, conducted seminars, lectures, etc.

They have been talking about its blocking for more than 10 years, and formally it can happen on any day, but does not happen. I hope that this will never happen, "he concluded.

Stanislav Kozlovsky - the new director of Wikimedia Ru

In May 2023, Vladimir Medeiko left the post of director of the non-profit partnership Wikimedia Ru (manages the Russian version of Wikipedia). The organization was headed by Stanislav Kozlovsky, who previously held the position of executive director of the organization.

Notes