Vladimir Putin has called for the creation of a Russian-government funded online encyclopedia, to replace the Russian language version of Wikipedia, which is open to be edited by users.  

The government plans to allocate nearly 1.7bn rubles (£20.7m) to developing a Russian online reference resource similar to Wikipedia in the next three years, according to government documents published in September.

Putin's statement follows just a day after a new law went into effect meaning Russian authorities can disconnect its internet from the rest of the world's — forming a nationwide intranet.