Russia includes Telegram founder on list of terrorists and extremists

Durov was arrested in France in August 2024, but he was released a few days later. His current whereabouts are unknown. Telegram, an encrypted messaging app founded in 2013, claims to have more than 1 billion users and is widely used by both sides in the war between Russia and Ukraine.

In recent years, Vladimir Putin's government has made efforts to restrict the use of Telegram in Russia and started promoting its own messaging service, the state-owned Max. Still, state bodies, including the Kremlin and the Ministry of Defense, continue to publish daily on the platform. Durov, who was born in Russia but currently holds passports from the United Arab Emirates and France, founded the social network VKontakte — the Russian equivalent of Facebook — before selling his remaining stake in 2014 under pressure from Russian authorities. Durov is also being investigated by French authorities, on accusations that Telegram did not adequately combat criminal activities on the platform and did not cooperate sufficiently with requests from security forces. Durov denies wrongdoing. The Russian announcement comes after a Russian state newspaper reported in February that Durov was under investigation in a terrorism-related case. In April, Durov posted on Telegram that a summons for “Suspect P.V. Durov” had been delivered to an apartment in Russia where he had lived for 20 years. "They must be suspecting that I defend Articles 29 and 23 of the Russian Constitution — which guarantee freedom of expression and the right to private correspondence. Proud to be guilty!", he wrote at the time. A May 16 post on his Telegram channel indicated he was in Dubai. On July 23, he wrote that he was “very impressed with Georgia” and that he hoped “to return very soon.”