Russian-born Pavel Durov was detained after his private jet landed at a Paris airport on Saturday evening.
Russian military bloggers are panicking after Pavel Durov, billionaire founder and CEO of the Telegram messaging app, was arrested at a Paris airport on Saturday evening.
As news broke that Russian-born Durov was detained after his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport, pro-war military analysts and bloggers took to the platform to lament the future of the conflict in Ukraine, highlighting that Telegram is a critical means of communication within the Russian army.
The 39-year-old founder of Telegram, a dual French and Russian citizen, was arrested as part of an investigation which alleges that the messaging platform has been used for fraud, drug trafficking, money laundering, and other offenses, French media reported.
Telegram, launched in 2013, issued a statement late on Sunday saying that Durov “has nothing to hide” and that it abides by all EU laws. “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform”, it said.
Responding to the news, Russian journalist Alexander Sladkov said that Russia’s military conducts half of its communications via the messaging app, and said an alternative must be created “urgently.
