The detention of Pavel Durov, the Russian-born co-founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, has been extended by a French investigative judge until August 28 as Moscow expressed outrage over what it said appeared to be "a direct attempt to restrict freedom of communication."
Durov, a billionaire who holds citizenships from Russia, France, the United Arab Emirates, and the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis, was detained at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on August 24 and held for questioning. The Paris prosecutor's office said late on August 26 that Durov's detention order was extended for 48 hours, meaning he must be charged or set free by August 28.
SEE ALSO: Explainer: The Dark Side Of TelegramFrance's OFMIN, an office tasked with preventing violence against minors, has reportedly issued an arrest warrant for Durov in a preliminary investigation into alleged offenses, including fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, and the promotion of terrorism.
Telegram has said that Durov “has nothing to hide” and that it is “awaiting a prompt resolution of this situation."
In Moscow, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on August 27 that the allegations against Durov were “very serious” and that “they require evidence that is just as serious” to erase the suspicions of many that the billionaire's arrest was politically motivated.
Without substantial evidence, "we are witnessing a direct attempt to restrict freedom of communication and, one might even say, direct intimidation of the head of a large company,” Peskov said.
French President Emmanuel Macron has tried to allay such suspicion, saying on August 26 that Durov's arrest was solely part of an independent investigation.
In a post on X, Macron said France “is deeply committed” to freedom of expression but that “freedoms are upheld within a legal framework, both on social media and in real life, to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights.”
Dubai-based Telegram boasts more than 900 million users worldwide. In his first major interview in seven years, which he gave to U.S. conservative media figure Tucker Carlson on April 17, Durov vowed that Telegram aims to be a "neutral platform" and not a "player in geopolitics."
Critics in Ukraine, however, say it spreads misinformation and facilitates illegal actions. Some accuse Telegram of having ties to the Russian state and of contributing to its war effort.
Despite its critics, there is “no such decision [to close Telegram] being prepared by the National Security and Defense Council,” Yaroslav Yurchyshyn, a Ukrainian lawmaker from the opposition Holos party and the chairman of the Committee on Freedom of Speech in Ukraine's parliament, said August 26.
Yurchyshyn told RFE/RL that Ukraine plans to monitor the situation for now and added that the blocking of Telegram in Ukraine is still possible.
“We understand that the French are considering accusations of promoting terrorism, and this has greatly worried the Russian authorities because communication [on Telegram] is not only about military operations in Ukraine,” Yurchyshyn said.
He noted that communications about the Wagner Group’s special operations in the Central African Republic or other African countries in which France has influence have also taken place on Telegram.
“That is, most likely, the French special services receive additional information that may be of interest to our special services,” he said.
Access to Telegram was temporarily restricted by Russia in 2018. The decision was made after the messaging app allegedly refused to provide Russia's FSB security agency with encryption keys from users' correspondence, citing the secrecy of correspondence guaranteed by the Russian Constitution.
The decision to block was sharply criticized by many Russian public figures, as well as critics of the Russian government. However, independent Russian media reports indicated that Telegram reached a compromise with the authorities and has been sharing some data with the security services for several years, although that has been denied by Telegram.