According to several reports, Russia’s Federal Security Service has charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activity and issued an international warrant for his arrest.
The agency alleged that the messenger app failed to remove content used by Ukrainian intelligence services as well as terrorist and extremist organizations to coordinate sabotage, mass killings, cyber fraud, and other attacks against Russia.
Telegram is among the most used applications on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war, with more than a billion users around the world.
Although the report stated that Moscow has repeatedly attempted to restrict the app and promote the state-backed MAX service, Russian government bodies, including the Kremlin and the defense ministry, continue to prefer Durov’s platform for official communication.
Previous reports from earlier this year claimed that Durov was already under investigation in a terrorism-related case. A summons addressed to Suspect P.V. Durov was reportedly delivered to an apartment he had lived in over 20 years ago.
He responded at the time that he was targeted for defending constitutional protections for free speech and private correspondence. His whereabouts remain unknown, according to Reuters.
Today’s charges come approximately two years after Durov was arrested in France as part of an investigation into whether Telegram had failed to adequately prevent criminal activity and cooperate with law-enforcement requests.
The allegations at the time included complicity in organized fraud, money laundering, narcotics sales, the distribution of child sexual abuse material, and making hacking and cryptography tools available without the required declarations. Durov, who now holds French and Emirati citizenships, denied any wrongdoing.
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