MOSCOW, Aug 26 (Reuters) — The Kremlin said on Monday it was unclear what charges are being brought against Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, who was arrested by French police on Saturday. Russia will await an official statement from French authorities before commenting further on the case.
Thank you for reading this post, don't forget to subscribe!Durov, a Russia-born billionaire and owner of the Telegram messaging app, was detained at Le Bourget airport near Paris shortly after arriving on a private jet late Saturday, according to sources.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated, “We do not yet know the specific accusations against Durov. We have not received any official information and should wait for the situation to be clarified before making any comments.”
Durov remains in detention and is currently being questioned by police, though Paris has not yet confirmed his arrest. The investigation is reportedly related to allegations that Durov’s platform facilitated various crimes due to insufficient moderation and lack of cooperation with authorities, a French police source indicated.
Telegram, which has nearly 1 billion users and is influential in Russia, Ukraine, and former Soviet republics, is based in Dubai. Durov left Russia in 2014 after resisting demands to shut down opposition communities on VKontakte, another social media platform he founded and later sold. Peskov also noted that Russian President Vladimir Putin did not meet with Durov during a recent visit to Baku.
