By Alexa Heah, 22 Mar 2022

The 29GB file has been downloaded over 150,000 times just this month so far.

As the invasion of Ukraine trudges on, Russian citizens have found themselves increasingly isolated from the rest of the online world.

Not only has a major broadband service provider cut off the backbone internet network in the country, platforms including Adobe’s Creative Cloud, Facebook, and Instagram have either terminated access or been banned by local authorities.

Now, sensing the crackdown could continue to further restrict residents’ access to information, Russians have been downloading the entire archive of the local-language Wikipedia for safekeeping.

Mashable reported that earlier this month, Roskomnadzor, the nation’s censors, had threatened to block Wikipedia following the site’s publication of an entry titled ‘Russian Invasion of Ukraine (2022)’.

While downloading the entirety of the world’s foremost online encyclopedia could seem daunting, non-profit organization Kiwix has compiled all of the 1.8 million Russian-language articles into a torrent for downloaders. […]

More: Russians Rush To Download The Whole Of Wikipedia In Fear It May Soon Get Banned – DesignTAXI.com