Telegram founder Pavel Durov reacted to the decision by Russian authorities to include him in the list of "extremists and terrorists". In his Telegram channel, he stated that the reason for the persecution was his refusal to participate in mass surveillance of users and content censorship.
"According to Russian law, I am prohibited from publishing information online. Russian officials confused who can ban whom online," Durov wrote.
According to Russian laws, individuals included in the list of "extremists and terrorists" are prohibited, among other things, from publishing materials online and interacting with mass media.
In addition, the entrepreneur, who currently lives in the United Arab Emirates, published an illustration in which he is labeled as a "terrorist," while representatives of the Taliban movement, with whom Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov shakes hands, are called "respected partners."
Earlier, the FSB announced that it had charged Durov with facilitating terrorist activities. After this, Rosfinmonitoring included him in the list of "extremists and terrorists." Such status entails freezing bank accounts, serious restrictions on financial operations, as well as other legal consequences, including a ban on online activity.
According to the FSB, the Telegram administration refused to delete channels, chats, and bots through which, Russian special services claim, Ukrainian special services, as well as organizations recognized as terrorist and extremist in Russia, organized terrorist attacks, cyber fraud, and other crimes. In particular, it is alleged that young Russians were supposedly recruited for participation in subversive activities through the dating chat bot "Daivinchik/Leo".
Russian authorities have placed Durov on an international wanted list. According to reports from Russian state bodies, he faces life imprisonment.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently stated that Russian authorities continue to maintain contact with Telegram's management regarding the resumption of cooperation, but, according to him, there has been no significant progress yet. Earlier, FSB director Alexander Bortnikov claimed that previous negotiations with Durov had yielded no results, and accused him of Telegram's policy allegedly contributing to the spread of terrorism, sabotage, and other crimes. The Telegram administration has not acknowledged these accusations.
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