Users in Russia are reporting widespread issues accessing the online encyclopedia Wikipedia. According to specialized outage tracking services, the first major disruptions began overnight on August 28, though the exact cause remains unclear.
Data from OONI Explorer indicates that by 9:00 AM, the unavailablity rate for the Russian-language version of the encyclopedia reached 100 percent, while English-language pages saw a 75 percent outage rate. Later in the day, the disruption rate for the Russian segment slightly decreased to 62 percent.
Nevertheless, Russian users report that accessing the site is now only possible through VPN services.
This large-scale disruption directly impacts the daily information needs of millions of users in Russia. In recent times, major international platforms have been regularly blocked or restricted in the country, making the use of VPN services a standard reality.
Although there is no official statement regarding the technical or administrative causes of the outage, further developments will clarify whether this is a temporary technical issue or another step toward a complete block of the platform.
