Russia’s Federal Security Service on Wednesday said it had charged Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder of the Telegram messaging app, with aiding terrorist activities.
The agency also issued an international warrant for his arrest.
The FSB said the charge formed part of “an ongoing criminal investigation” against Durov.
Why is Russia charging Durov?
The security service accused Telegram’s management of failing to remove channels, chats and bots allegedly used to organize attacks and acts of sabotage inside Russia.
According to the FSB, Ukrainian intelligence services had used the platform to prepare and coordinate sabotage, terrorist attacks, mass killings and cyberfraud.
These actions, as well as crimes committed by what the FSB described as terrorist and extremist organizations, had allegedly caused numerous deaths, including those of women and children, as well as billions in material damage.
Soon after the news of the warrant broke, Telegram’s account on X posted a picture of Durov giving a middle finger to the camera.
