Pavel Durov Accused of Assisting Terrorism

The actions of Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, have become the subject of a criminal investigation for allegedly facilitating terrorist activities, according to Rossiyskaya Gazeta citing FSB documents. The newspaper notes that since 2022, over 153,000 crimes involving the messenger have been recorded in Russia, of which 33,000 are related to sabotage, terrorism, and extremism, including the organization of explosions, arson of military enlistment offices, and murders.

According to the agency, a terrorist attack that occurred in March 2024 near the Crocus City Hall was coordinated via Telegram. The FSB reports that through analyses of the messenger, criminals gathered information about the movements of senior military officials, bloggers, and journalists, who later became victims of these crimes. Furthermore, the intelligence agency stated that 475 planned terrorist attacks were thwarted through Telegram.

On February 10, “Roskomnadzor” intensified measures to slow down Telegram’s operations. The regulatory body promised to continue the restrictions if the company fails to host its servers in Russia and does not comply with Russian legislation. According to the Ministry of Digital Development and external intelligence services, foreign intelligence agencies are using data obtained from Telegram to conduct military operations against the Russian army.

The Telegram app has denied all accusations.