Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has accused the Telegram founder Pavel Durov of aiding terrorist activity. The agency said an international arrest warrant had been issued against him at the same time.
The FSB said on Wednesday (29 July) that material had not been removed from Telegram that Ukraine’s special forces and various terrorist and extremist organisations had used to prepare and coordinate sabotage, terrorist activity, mass killing and cyber fraud on Russian territory. No immediate comment on the allegation was available from Pavel Durov or from Telegram.
Telegram, an encrypted messaging app launched in 2013, says it has more than 100 crore (one billion) users worldwide. The platform is being used extensively for communication by both sides in the Russia-Ukraine war.
Russia has been trying to restrict the use of Telegram for the past few years. At the same time the country is encouraging the use of Max, its own state-backed messaging app.
Pavel Durov, who was born in Russia, is now a citizen of the United Arab Emirates and of France. He founded the popular Russian social media platform VKontakte. He sold his remaining stake in it in 2014 under pressure from the Russian authorities.
The French authorities are also investigating Telegram. The allegation there is that the platform did not take sufficient measures to prevent criminal activity and did not cooperate adequately with requests from law enforcement agencies. Durov has consistently denied those allegations.
বাংলায় মূল প্রতিবেদন পড়ুন · Read the original Bengali report