Budget For Making Russian Analog Of Wikipedia To Amount To Over $31Mln - Creators

The budget for creating a digitized version of the Great Russian Encyclopedia as a Russian analog of Wikipedia will amount to about 2 billion rubles ($31.4 million), Sergey Kravets, the editor-in-chief of the encyclopedia's publishing house, told reporters

UFA (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st November, 2019) The budget for creating a digitized version of the Great Russian Encyclopedia as a Russian analog of Wikipedia will amount to about 2 billion rubles ($31.4 million), Sergey Kravets, the editor-in-chief of the encyclopedia's publishing house, told reporters.

The idea was proposed by Russian President Vladimir Putin on November 5. He said that unlike Wikipedia, which can be edited by any user, this replacement would provide only reliable information.

"The budget for creating the portal, which will take 33 months, is about 2 billion rubles. Writing opinion pieces, as well as creating articles and reviewing texts will require payments.

At the same time, regions [of Russia] will not provide funding for the creation of the portal, but it is important for us that the regional authorities support their own encyclopedic and scientific centers," Kravets said.

The project on setting up the analog is expected to be presented to the professional community at a conference called "Modern Regional Encyclopedics: Place and Role in Society, Development Prospects," which is taking place on Thursday in the Russian Urals city of Ufa.

Earlier in November, Kravets said that the final version of the portal could be presented in spring 2022, and the encyclopedia would be a part of a scientific and educational portal.