MOSCOW — Russia has charged Pavel Durov, cofounder of the encrypted messaging app Telegram, with “aiding terrorism” and issued an international arrest warrant for him.
Russia’s FSB domestic security agency announced the charge against Russian-born Durov on Wednesday, saying his company failed to take down “channels, chats and bots” used by “Ukrainian special services and by terrorist and extremist organizations” to prepare and coordinate attacks in Russia.
Those attacks included acts of “sabotage and terrorism, mass killings, and cyber-fraud operations”, said the FSB.
Shortly after the charge was announced, Telegram’s account on X posted an image showing Durov holding up his middle finger. He has previously accused Russian authorities of “fabricating new pretexts to restrict Russians’ access to Telegram”.
Telegram is popular in Russia and is used by tens of millions of people, although authorities have been restricting access as part of a wider crackdown on internet freedom. The app is also popular in Ukraine.
The Russian charge comes as Moscow tries to restrict the use of Telegram and other popular messaging apps, such as WhatsApp, while promoting its own state-backed MAX messenger service.
Experts warn that MAX, which openly declares it will share user data with authorities upon request, does not use end-to-end encryption that ensures messages remain private.
Russia’s government has also blocked social media like Twitter, Facebook and Instagram while ramping up restrictions on services like YouTube.
Multi-billionaire Durov, 41, has lived outside of Russia for many years and holds French and UAE passports.
It is unclear whether other countries or authorities would comply with an arrest warrant issued by Russia.
Durov left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with government demands to shut down opposition communities on the platform. He had previously founded popular Russian social media company VKontakte, dubbed the “Facebook of Russia”.
Telegram is used by around 950 million people worldwide and has previously positioned itself as an app focussed on its users’ privacy, rather than the normal policies prioritised by other global social media companies.
The platform has previously faced criticism of its app moderation, but has denied having insufficient practices.
Durov was arrested and placed under formal investigation in France in 2024 over allegations of failure to properly moderate the app to reduce criminality. He was allowed to go home months later, with the investigation continuing.
Source: Saudi Gazette