&imwidth=800&imheight=600&format=webp&quality=medium "Russia charges Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorism")
Russia on Wednesday charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov, accusing him of facilitating terrorism using the popular messaging application. The 41-year-old billionaire has been placed on the international wanted list by Russia’s Federal Security Service. Russian government accused the platform of allowing the Ukrainian Security Services to communicate and coordinate their activities. Telegram's official account on the platform X responded by posting a picture where Durov was flipping off at the camera.
The FSB said in a statement on Wednesday that the Telegram chief “failed to remove numerous channels, chats, and bots of this messenger, which are actively used by Ukrainian special services, terrorist, and extremist organisations to prepare and coordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism, mass murder, and cyber-fraud.”
Telegram has been described as a “virtual battlefield” in the war between Russia and Ukraine. The FSB claimed that a dating chatbot called "Daivinchik/Leo" available on Telegram had been used by Ukrainian special services to recruit young Russians to carry out sabotage and terrorist operations. Around 46 Russians had been arrested last year for carrying out attacks on law enforcement officers or setting fire to transport, energy, communications or financial infrastructure. They were allegedly coerced into actions by Ukrainian spies posing as women. Russia had effectively banned the use of Telegram, though government officials and state bodies, influencers continue to access it using a VPN to conceal their location.
These recent charges were part of a wider campaign against Dubai-based Durov and Telegram. A Russian Government Newspaper reported in February that Durov was under investigation in a terrorism-related case. He was delivered a summons for “Suspect P.V. Durov” in a Russian apartment in April. Russian-born businessman Durov used to reside in that apartment 20 years ago. He was last spotted in Georgia last week, according to his social media activity. His current whereabouts are unknown.
The founder of Russia's Facebook equivalent, VKontakte, has been a vocal critic of the Russian leadership and government. Durov accused the Russian state of restricting free speech and called it “a sad spectacle of a state afraid of its own people.” He had been framed by Russian media as a “direct threat to socio-political stability” in Russia and alleged that he was under foreign influence. He was arrested in 2024 in France over failure of Telegram to monitor and control criminal activity. He was later allowed to leave the country while investigations continue.
