Russia's Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) has added Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov to its list of terrorists and extremists. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
The register states: "Durov Pavel Valerievich, born October 10, 1984, Leningrad."
Earlier, Russian authorities charged Durov with aiding terrorist activities. A procedure to put the entrepreneur on the international wanted list has also been initiated.
According to Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB), Telegram's administration did not delete channels, chats, and bots used by Ukrainian special services, as well as terrorist and extremist organizations, to prepare and coordinate terrorist attacks, mass murders, and fraudulent schemes on Russian territory.
The agency said that since 2022, about 153,000 crimes committed using Telegram have been registered in the country. Among them are the terrorist attack at Crocus City Hall, the murders of Darya Dugina, Maxim Fomin (Vladlen Tatarsky), and several Russian military personnel.
Additionally, according to Russian authorities, Roskomnadzor sent more than 150,000 requests to Telegram's administration to remove illegal content, but they were allegedly not fulfilled.
Earlier, Sergei Boyarsky, chairman of the Russian State Duma Committee on Information Policy, stated that the criminal case against Durov is not related to the Russian authorities' policy regarding Telegram.
According to lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov, if found guilty, Durov could face life imprisonment. Meanwhile, the State Duma believes that Telegram will be able to continue operating in Russia if it complies with legal requirements.
Meanwhile, Telegram's official account on social network X reacted to the news of the criminal case against the messenger's founder Pavel Durov. The post featured a photo of the entrepreneur making an obscene gesture with his middle finger.