Russia blocks pages in Wikipedia

At the instruction of Russia's federal watchdog service, internet providers in the country have started blocking access to Wikipedia for the Russian-language users.

However, Wikipedia users in Moscow said access was still available both through fixed telephone lines and cellular services, reported Tass news agency.

Watchdog agency Roskomnadzor on Monday said it had sent an address of the page in the Russian Wikipedia that contained prohibited information on a narcotic drug.

"The attempts to move the article at a different URL that the executives of the Russian segment of the internet encyclopedia had made earlier did not limit the users' access to the content banned by court," a spokesman said.

Roskomnadzor's decision to block access to a page in Wikipedia will deal a blow to the entire resource, believes Vladimir Medeiko, director of the Wikipedia.ru non-commercial partnership.

Wikipedia uses a secure protocol that does not make it possible for providers to identify what pages the user is reading or what data he or she is transmitting or receiving.

"There will be no access to all the pages of the resource as a result," Medeiko said.