Telegram founder Pavel Durov arrested in France

Pavel Durov, the 39-year-old founder of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested by French authorities at Le Bourget airport near Paris on the evening of August 24.

French media channel BFMTV reported that the businessman was arrested upon arrival of his private jet from Azerbaijan.According to sources, Durov was in Baku at the same time as Russian President Vladimir Putin, but it is unclear whether they met.

Durov is said to have emigrated from Russia in 2014 and taken French citizenship. In recent years, the Telegram CEO lived in the United Arab Emirates.

The French Anti-Fraud Office (ONAF) has arrested Durov on the basis of an arrest warrant. The report says the warrant was issued by the country's criminal police as part of a “preliminary investigation,” the details of which have not yet been disclosed.

Durov is said to have known about the arrest warrant and avoided traveling to Europe. It is unclear why he decided to travel at this time. French media point out that the arrest warrant is only valid in France.

The Telegram founder may face charges related to terrorism, drugs, fraud, money laundering, trafficking in stolen goods and sex crimes against children. These allegations are based on “Telegram's lack of content moderation and the refusal of the messaging app's administration to cooperate with authorities.”

French law enforcement agencies reportedly considering Durov “an accomplice in crimes committed through Telegram due to the use of tools such as cryptocurrency and disposable numbers and the lack of control over the platform.”

Durov is expected to be formally charged on August 25. The likelihood of his release pending investigation is reportedly “extremely low, as he has considerable resources and opportunities to escape.”

While the possible sentence is still unclear, some Russian media outlets, including Izvestia, claimed that Durov could face up to 20 years in prison. However, French lawyer Alain Duflot did not comment on this in his statement.

What is Telegram and how does it work in Ukraine?

Telegram was founded in 2013 by brothers Nikolai and Pavel Durov, who previously built the Russian social network VKontakte (which was blocked in Ukraine in 2017).

Telegram offers end-to-end encryption for secret chats and supports large group conversations and channels for sending messages. Although Telegram has occasionally been banned in some countries due to concerns about its encryption features, it has continued to grow and evolve, introducing features such as voice calling, video messaging, and a platform for bots.

In Ukraine, the messenger Telegram gained significant popularity after it was widely used by Volodymyr Zelensky's team during the 2019 presidential election. After Russia's large-scale invasion in 2022, its use increased even further, as authorities of all levels used Telegram to inform the public amid DDoS attacks on official websites, often making it the de facto main source of official information.

Oleksandr Melnychenko, a representative of the Department of Counterintelligence and Protection of State Interests in Information Security of the ІSBU, said in March 2024 that Telegram was cooperating with the Russian FSB and Roskomnadzor and complying with Russian requests to block certain channels. Later, in early April, HUR head Kyrylo Budanov said that Telegram posed a national security risk.

Ukraine announced on April 29, 2024, that the Russian-originated messaging app Telegram had restored access to several chatbots used by its security agencies to gather intelligence on Russian aggression. The affected bots belonged to the Ukrainian intelligence service, the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), the Ukrainian air defense bot, and the YeVoroh bot, which tracks Russian troops and equipment.

The SBU has created several surveillance bots in Telegram that allow citizens to report detected Russian equipment and military or inform them about passing missiles or drones. The SBU itself says that the use of these bots endangers national security.

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