3 weeks ago
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Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been charged with facilitating Ukraine-instigated sabotage and terrorist activities in the Russian Federation.
The tech entrepreneur, whose popular messenger is being targeted by Moscow’s censors, has been reportedly placed on an international wanted list.
Russia issues arrest warrant for Pavel Durov
Russian authorities are going after Pavel Durov over allegedly aiding Ukraine’s “terrorist activities” in the country, local media reports revealed Wednesday, adding that he is internationally wanted.
The charges against him stem from a criminal case launched after an investigation into a previously banned Telegram chatbot, RBC and the daily Izvestia unveiled.
According to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), it has been used by Ukrainian intelligence agencies to lure and pressure Russian citizens to commit sabotage.
The “Dayvinchik/Leo – Dating, Communication, and New Friends” bot has been already prohibited by the country’s telecom watchdog and media censor, Roskomnadzor.
The reason for its blacklisting cited earlier by the body was the spread of content related to child pornography as well as LGBT propaganda, which is also against the law in Russia.
The FSB now claims that Ukrainian agents utilized fake accounts, posing as women, to attract young Russian citizens through the “Dayvinchik” platform.
To enter into a romantic relationship, the men shared geolocations for meeting, bought movie tickets and gifts through phishing links sent by the opposite side.
The unsuspecting victims were then contacted by people pretending to be employees of Russian law enforcement or other government agencies.
These individuals accused them of transferring funds to the Ukrainian army and sharing coordinates for missile and drone strikes on targets inside Russia.
The Russians were then coerced into carrying out arson and other attacks, presented as “anti-terrorist security checks” and other false “operational activities.”
The FSB is accusing Telegram’s administrators of failing to remove such content from this and other bots, chats and channels, also used by extremists and fraudsters.
The security service, together with Russia’s interior ministry and investigative committee, have detained 46 people since last summer, aged 12 to 22, within this probe.
Some of them may face lengthy prison sentences over their participation in various attacks, including for treason, armed assault and attempted murder.
Durov charged with providing “assistance to terrorist activity”
According to the Russian media reports, Pavel Durov has been charged under Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 of the Russian Federation’s Criminal Code, for providing “assistance to terrorist activity.”
Criminal cases have been opened under several other provisions, including for sabotage, intentional destruction of or damage to property, and hooliganism, the business new portal RBC detailed.
Born in Russia and residing in Dubai, Durov’s whereabouts are currently unclear, Reuters remarked in a report covering the development.
The FSB’s statement that the dual French-Emirati citizen has been put on an international wanted list hasn’t been confirmed by Interpol yet, the agency also noted.
Aside from a photo of Durov making an obscene gesture, posted by Telegram’s account on X earlier in the day, the company and the billionaire are also yet to comment, as of the time of writing.
In 2024, Telegram’s owner was detained in France as part of an investigation related to insufficient content moderation. He was also accused of refusing to cooperate with French law enforcement.
Authorities in Russia have been trying to restrict access to the very popular messenger. Roskomnadzor’s attempts to slow down traffic to the platform started in February.
Multiple outages have been registered since then, as previously reported by Cryptopolitan, and the messaging service is now accessible to Russian residents mostly through VPN.
Regulators in Moscow have been insisting they are increasing pressure on the app to make it comply with Russian law and act on thousands of requests to remove illegal content.
The Kremlin claimed this week it’s still reaching out to its management regarding restoring access to the messenger but with “little activity” to talk about.
Durov, who is also Telegram’s chief executive, accused Russian officials of imposing restrictions on it to force their citizens to switch to a state-controlled alternative application called Max.
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