Russia charges Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorism

Russia’s main domestic security agency said that Pavel Durov, the founder and owner of messaging app Telegram, has been charged with “aiding terrorism” and put on an international wanted list.

The charges against Mr Durov, who was born and began his career in Russia but later moved abroad, come as Russian authorities restrict Telegram, one of the most popular messaging apps in the country.

It is part of a long-term effort to bring the internet under the Kremlin’s full control that has intensified since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.

The Federal Security Service, also known as the FSB, accused Telegram’s administration of failing to remove “numerous channels, chats and bots” that are “actively used by Ukrainian intelligence agencies, terrorist, and extremist organisations to prepare and co-ordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism, mass murder, and cyberfraud” in Russia, which resulted in “numerous human casualties”.

The agency accused Ukrainian security services of using a popular dating chatbot on Telegram to lure and recruit Russians for “sabotage and terrorist activities”, and said 46 users of the chatbot, from 12 to 22 years old, have been detained across Russia since July 2025 for assaulting law enforcement officers, arson and other acts.

Mr Durov earlier this year announced that the Russian authorities opened a criminal investigation against him and accused them of fabricating pretexts to restrict access to Telegram as part of an attempt to “suppress the right to privacy and free speech”.

If convicted, the entrepreneur could face up to life in prison in Russia.

Under President Vladimir Putin, Russian authorities have engaged in multi-pronged efforts to rein in the internet. They have adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that do not comply and focused on improving technology to monitor and manipulate online traffic.

Multiple popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and X, have been banned in Russia; YouTube has been throttled; popular messaging apps, such as Signal, have been blocked, and the most popular ones — WhatsApp and Telegram — have been restricted.

Russia’s popular Facebook-like social media platform VK, founded by Mr Durov long before he launched the Telegram messaging app, had come under the control of Kremlin-friendly companies. Russia tried to block Telegram between 2018-20 but failed.

While it is still possible to circumvent some of the restrictions by using virtual private network services, many of them are routinely blocked too.

At the same time, Russia actively promotes the “national” messaging app known as Max, which critics say could be used for surveillance.

The platform is touted by developers and officials as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments and more. It openly declares it will share user data with authorities upon request, and experts also say it does not use end-to-end encryption.

Mr Durov has faced criminal investigations elsewhere. In 2024, he was arrested in Paris over allegations that his platform was being used for illicit activity, including drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse images.