Russia seeks international arrest warrant for Telegram Founder Pavel Durov

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has filed a criminal case against Telegram founder Pavel Durov, accusing him of aiding terrorist activities and claiming that an international arrest warrant has been issued against the tech entrepreneur.

In a statement released on Wednesday (July 29), the FSB alleged that Telegram failed to remove content used by Ukraine's special forces, as well as terrorist and extremist groups, to coordinate sabotage operations, terrorist attacks, mass killings and cyber fraud targeting Russian territory.

Neither Telegram nor Durov immediately responded to the allegations.

Founded in 2013, Telegram has grown into one of the world's largest encrypted messaging platforms, with more than one billion active users globally, according to the company. The platform has played a significant role in communications during the Russia-Ukraine war, serving military personnel, government agencies and civilians on both sides of the conflict.

Russia has stepped up efforts in recent years to tighten oversight of Telegram while simultaneously promoting its state-backed messaging platform, Max, as an alternative for domestic users.

Durov, who was born in Russia and now holds citizenship in the United Arab Emirates and France, founded Telegram after creating Russia's leading social networking platform, VKontakte (VK). He left Russia in 2014 after selling his remaining stake in VK following disputes with Russian authorities.

Telegram is also under scrutiny in France, where authorities are investigating whether the platform failed to take sufficient action against criminal activity and did not adequately cooperate with law enforcement requests. Durov has consistently denied those allegations.

Analysts say the parallel legal actions by Russia and Western authorities could intensify global debate over the regulation of encrypted messaging platforms, online content moderation and the responsibilities of technology companies in addressing security threats.

Source: Reuters