By South China Morning Post | Created at 2026-07-29 07:52:34 | Updated at 2026-07-29 09:27:51
2 hours ago
Russia’s main domestic security agency said Wednesday that Pavel Durov, founder of the messaging app Telegram, has been charged with aiding terrorism and put on an international wanted list.
The charges against Durov, who was born and began his career in Russia but later moved abroad, come as the 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 in a statement of failing to remove “numerous channels, chats and bots” that are “actively used by Ukrainian intelligence agencies, terrorist, and extremist organisations to prepare and coordinate 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 chat bot on Telegram to lure and recruit Russians for “sabotage and terrorist activities”, and said 46 users of the chat bot, from 12 to 22 years old, have been detained across Russia since July 2025.
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, Durov could face life in prison in Russia.
