Russia charges Telegram founder Durov with aiding terrorism

Russia has charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorism and issued an international arrest warrant, accusing the messaging platform of allowing Ukrainian intelligence services and extremist groups to use it to plan attacks inside Russia.

The Federal Security Service, or FSB, said Wednesday that Telegram had failed to remove “channels, chats and bots” used to prepare and coordinate acts of “sabotage and terrorism, mass killings, and cyber-fraud operations.” The agency said the activity had caused “numerous human casualties,” according to CBS News.

The FSB said Ukrainian security services used a popular dating chatbot on Telegram to lure and recruit Russians for “sabotage and terrorist activities.” It said 46 users of the chatbot, ages 12 to 22, had been detained across Russia since July 2025 on accusations including assaults on law enforcement officers, arson and other acts, CBS News reported.

There was no formal comment from Durov or Telegram immediately after the charge was announced. But Telegram’s official account on X posted a photograph of Durov holding up his middle finger.

Durov, 41, was born in Russia but has lived abroad for years. Telegram says on its website that the company is based in Dubai and that Durov lives there. He holds French and United Arab Emirates passports. It is unclear whether other countries or authorities would comply with an arrest warrant issued by Russia.

The charge comes as Moscow tightens restrictions on Telegram and other messaging services while promoting a state-backed app called MAX. Al Jazeera reported that MAX says it will share user data with authorities upon request and, according to experts, does not use end-to-end encryption. Russian authorities have also restricted or blocked major platforms including Facebook, Instagram, X, YouTube, Signal and Viber, while WhatsApp and Telegram have faced restrictions.

Telegram is among the most popular messaging apps in Russia and Ukraine and is used by about 950 million people worldwide. The company has presented itself as focused on user privacy and free expression, though it has faced criticism over moderation. Telegram has denied having insufficient moderation practices.

Durov has previously accused Russian authorities of “fabricating new pretexts to restrict Russians’ access to Telegram” and said they were trying to “suppress the right to privacy and free speech.” Earlier this year, he announced that Russian authorities had opened a criminal investigation against him.

Durov left Russia in 2014 after refusing government demands to shut down opposition communities. Before founding Telegram, he created VKontakte, often described as Russia’s version of Facebook. Al Jazeera reported that Durov said he had been pressured in 2014 to give Russian authorities access to data from accounts of Ukrainian pro-democracy activists and refused.

He also faces legal scrutiny in France. In 2024, Durov was arrested in Paris and placed under formal investigation over allegations that Telegram failed to adequately counter criminal activity on the platform and cooperate with law enforcement requests. CBS News reported that the allegations included drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse images. Durov denies wrongdoing and said in March 2025 that he had returned to Dubai after spending several months in France.

If convicted in Russia, Durov could face up to life in prison, CBS News reported.