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ES
Russia’s FSB charges Telegram founder Durov with facilitating terrorism
['Siranush Ghazanchyan']
Public Radio of Armenia
Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on Wednesday that it had charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorist activities, and that it had issued an international warrant for his arrest, Reuters reports.
The FSB said that the charges related to Telegram’s failure to remove material “used by Ukrainian special services and by terrorist and extremist organisations to prepare and coordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism, mass killings, and cyber-fraud operations within the Russian Federation.”
Durov, who was born in Russia but now holds Emirati and French passports, founded Russia’s Facebook equivalent, VKontakte, before selling his remaining stake in 2014 amid pressure from Russian authorities.
French authorities are investigating Durov over allegations that Telegram failed to adequately counter criminal activity on the platform and did not sufficiently cooperate with law enforcement requests.
Durov denies wrongdoing.