Great Russian Encyclopedia

The Great Russian Encyclopedia (GRE; Большая российская энциклопедия, БРЭ, transliterated as Bolshaya rossiyskaya entsiklopediya or academically as Bol'šaja rossijskaja ènciklopedija) is a universal Russian encyclopedia, completed in 36 volumes, published between 2004 and 2017 by Great Russian Encyclopedia, JSC (Большая российская энциклопедия ПАО, transliterated as Bolshaya rossiyskaya entsiklopediya PAO). A successor to the Great Soviet Encyclopedia, it was released under the auspices of the Russian Academy of Sciences (RAS) after President Vladimir Putin signed a presidential decree №1156 in 2002. The complete edition was released by 2017.

The chief editor of the encyclopedia was Yury Osipov, the president of the RAS. The editorial board had more than 80 RAS members.

The first, introductory volume, released in 2004, was dedicated to Russia. Thirty-five volumes were released between 2005 and 2017, covering the range from "A" to "Яя" (Yaya). The RAS plans to publish an updated version every five years, although it may not be issued in print after the first edition.

On 17 June 2024 the project was suspended due to discontinued funding from the Russian government.

Editorial board
Yury Osipov, a mathematician, President of RAS (1991-2013), is the GRE Editor in Chief and Chairman of the Scientific Editorial Board.

Managing editor is Sergey Kravets, journalist, editor and cultural figure.

Also in the scientific editorial board are or were: Sergey S. Averintsev, Eugene N. Avrorin, Sergei I. Adian, Yuri P. Altukhov, Zhores I. Alferov, Boris V. Anan'ich, Alexander F. Andreev, Leo N. Andreev, Dmitry V. Anosov, Vladimir I. Arnold, Sergey N. Bagaev, Nikolai Bahvalov, Oleg A. Bogatikov, Alexander A. Boyarchuk, Evgeny Velikhov, Vladimir A. Vinogradov, Andrei I. Vorobyov, Eric M. Galimov, Andrey V. Gaponov-Grekhov, Mikhail L. Gasparov, Vitaly L. Ginzburg, Georgy S. Golitsyn, Andrei A. Gonchar, Anatoly I. Grigoriev, Abdusalam A. Guseinov, Mikhail I. Davydov, Anatoly P. Derevyanko, Nikolai L. Dobretsov, Yuri I. Zhuravlev, Nicholas S. Zefirov, Yuri A. Zolotov, Viktor P. Ivannikov, Vadim T. Ivanov, Sergei G. Inge-Vechtomov, Alexander S. Isaev, Victor A. Kabanov, Eugene N. Kablov, Sergei P. Karpov, Lev L. Kiselev, Alex E. Kontorovich, Vladimir M. Kotlyakov, Oleg N. Krokhin, Edward P. Kruglyakov, Alexander B. Kudelin, Oleg Y. Kutafin, Nikolai P. Laverov, Viktor P. Legostaev, Nikolai P. Liakishev, Valery L. Makarov, Alexander M. Matveenko, Gennady A. Mesyats, Alexander D. Nekipelov, Alexei V. Nikolaev, Sergey P. Novikov, Yuri S. Osipov, Dmitry S. Pavlov, Alexey N. Parshin, Nikolai A. Plate, Nikolai N. Ponomarev-Steppe, Yuri V. Prokhorov, Alexei Y. Rozanov, Valery A. Rubakov, Alexander Y. Rumyantsev, Dmitry V. Rundkvist, Gennady I. Savin, Victor A. Sadovnichii, Alexander N. Skrinsky, Alexander S. Spirin, Yuri S. Stepanov, Vyacheslav S. Stepin, Michael L. Titarenko, Valery A. Tishkov, Yuri D. Tretyakov, Kliment N. Trubetskoy, Oleg H. Favorsky, Ludvig D. Faddeev, Vladimir Ye. Fortov, Konstantin V. Frolov, Yuri I. Chernov, Gorimir G. Chernii, Alexander O. Chubarian, Vitaly D. Shafranov, Sergey V. Shestakov, Dmitry V. Shirkov. Boris A. Babayan, Vladimir I. Vasiliev, Piama P. Gaidenko, Rudolf V. Kamelin, Michael V. Kovalchuk, Nikolai I. Lapin, Sergey S. Lappo, Alexey V. Yablokov. Vladimir I. Fisinin. Dmitry O. Shvidkovskiy.
 * RAS Academics:
 * RAS Corresponding Members:
 * Russian Academy of Agricultural Sciences Academician:
 * Russian Academy of Arts Academician:
 * Russian Federation Statesmen:
 * Aleksandr A. Avdeyev (Culture Minister in 2008–2012),
 * Andrei A. Fursenko (Minister of Education and Science of the Russian Federation in 2004–2012),
 * Andrei A. Kokoshin (Secretary of the Russian Security Council in 1998),
 * Sergey E. Naryshkin (Head of the Presidential Administration of the Russian Federation in 2008–2011, Chairman of the State Duma of the Russian Federation since 2011),
 * Alexander S. Sokolov (musicologist, Culture Minister in 2004-2008),
 * Sergey K. Shoigu (Minister of Emergency Situations of the Russian Federation in 1994–2012, Defense Minister from 2012),
 * Mikhail E. Shvydkoi (Culture Minister in 2000–2004),
 * Alexander D. Zhukov (Deputy Prime Minister in 2004–2011).

Alexei D. Bogaturov, Sergey V. Chemezov, Vladimir V. Grigoriev, Alexei I. Komech, Vladimir A. Mau, D. L. Orlov.
 * and also:

Edition summary
Publication schedule and contents of volumes:

Electronic version
In 2022, an electronic version, Great Russian Encyclopedia (portal) was launched at bigenc.ru, described as a Russian government alternative to Wikipedia. Some assumed that this will be associated with blocking Wikipedia or competing with it, however Russian officials disavowed this claim.

Criticism
While it was widely recognized that the Great Soviet Encyclopedia needed a replacement, the need for a print encyclopedia has been questioned, since many other analogues have now moved online, such as the Encyclopædia Britannica and the Brockhaus Enzyklopädie.

Critics complain that many of the biographies, historical entries, and cultural articles are narrow and biased: according to writer and literary critic Nikolai Podosokorsky, several of the articles are "quite superficial" and "the lists of references at the end were often extremely biased". While admitting that some of the articles in the encyclopedia were "excellent", Podosokorsky still stated that he maintained a generally negative view of the project.