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Telegram’s co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov reportedly entered Russia over 50 times between 2015 and 2021, according to an August 27 report by the independent Russia-based news outlet Important Stories. The report includes data on Durov’s movements leaked from Russia’s main intelligence agency, the Federal Security Service (FSB).
Allegations Against Durov Surface
The data was reportedly leaked no later than August 20 and hidden again on August 26. Important Stories claims to have partially verified the data by consulting a researcher connected to Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny. Durov reportedly did not attempt to conceal his travels and flew between Russia, St. Petersburg, and various European cities on commercial Aeroflot flights, and traveled from Russia to Helsinki, Finland, by Russian Railway trains.
The Telegram CEO is of Russian origin and founded the Russian social network VKontakte in 2006. Durov stated that he resigned as CEO in 2014 after refusing to comply with an FSB request to disclose personal data of Ukrainian protesters, subsequently selling his 12% stake to MegaFon’s CEO Ivan Tavrin.
Durov left Russia in April 2014, and according to Important Stories, his only known visit to Russia since then was in the fall of 2014 to sell the data center ICVA Ltd. for a few days.
Details on the Matter
Important Stories reports that Durov traveled to Russia multiple times between 2015 and 2017 and again between 2020 and 2021. The only period he did not travel to Russia was between 2018 and 2020. In an April interview with Tucker Carlson, Durov claimed he did not travel to places that did not align with Telegram’s values, including Russia. Durov shared the following statement:
“I travel to places where I am confident they are consistent with what we do and our values. I don’t go to major geopolitical powers like China, Russia, or even the USA.”
In 2018, the Russian government banned Telegram for refusing to provide state agencies access to users’ encrypted messages, a ban that was lifted in 2020. Durov was arrested in France on August 24. French authorities accused him of failing to adequately monitor illegal activities on the messaging platform, which they claimed was used to facilitate fraud and organized crime.
