Russia charges Telegram founder Pavel Durov

Russia has formally charged Pavel Durov, the founder of messaging application Telegram, with facilitating terrorism. The country's domestic security service, the FSB, stated that the platform has been used for the preparation and coordination of sabotage and terror acts within Russia. The FSB alleges that Telegram failed to remove channels, chats, and bots identified as being used by Ukrainian services for recruitment purposes.

International Arrest Warrant Issued

Following the charges, an international arrest warrant has been issued for Mr Durov, who was born in Russia but resides abroad. Mr Durov holds French and United Arab Emirates passports. It remains unclear whether other countries or authorities will recognise or act upon the warrant issued by Russia. Telegram is widely used in Russia, with tens of millions of individuals utilising the service.

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Authorities in Russia have been progressively limiting access to Telegram as part of broader measures to control internet freedom. Mr Durov has previously alleged that Russian authorities were creating pretexts to restrict access to the application for Russian citizens. Shortly after the announcement of the charges, Telegram's official account on the social media platform X posted an image depicting Mr Durov making a middle-finger gesture.