
On Tuesday, a Russian court fined the proprietor of Wikipedia two million roubles (around $32,600) for articles about Moscow's offensive on its neighbour Ukraine.
The company claimed that it was fined by the Tagansky District Court of Moscow for refusing to delete two entries about the nation's military incursion in Ukraine.
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However, as per AFP the director of Moscow-based Wikimedia RU, Vladimir Medeiko said that the articles will not be removed and that the court's ruling will be appealed.
"I don't think Wikimedia Foundation will pay the fine," he told the news agency.
Talking to Reuters, Stanislav Kozlovsky, the head of the foundation's Russia chapter said that "We still have a fairly strong legal procedural position, so we have reason to believe that we will succeed in having both this fine and those issued in April overturned."
In April Russian authorities fined the organisation 5 million roubles over a number of similar violations.
Russian authorities have alsoslapped Western companies including Google and Telegram with massive fines over Ukraine-related content.In July, a Moscow court fined Google 21 billion rubles ($360 million) for failing to remove content concerning Russia's military intervention in Ukraine.
The February 24 incursion by Russia has led to a clampdown on free speech in the nation. Accordingto AFP, it has exacerbated the country's crackdown on press freedom and caused an exodus of independent Russian journalists.
As per the report, Moscow has effectively forbidden criticism of Russia's military engagement in Ukraine and outlawed using the terms "war" or "invasion" to describe the operation.
(With inputs from agencies)
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