Russia’s top domestic security agency said on Wednesday that Pavel Durov, founder of the messaging app Telegram, has been charged with aiding terrorism and placed on an international wanted list.
The charges against Durov, who was born in Russia and started his career but later moved abroad, came as Russian authorities clamped down on Telegram, one of the country’s most popular messaging apps.
It is part of a long-term effort to bring the internet under the Kremlin’s full control, which has intensified since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.
The Federal Security Service, also known as the FSB, accused the Telegram government in a statement of failing to remove “numerous channels, chats and bots” that are “actively used by Ukrainian intelligence services, terrorist and extremist organizations to prepare and coordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism, mass murder and cyber fraud” in Russia, resulting in “countless human victims.”
The agency accused Ukrainian security services of using a popular dating chatbot on Telegram to lure and recruit Russians for “sabotage and terrorist activities,” and said that since July 2025, 46 users of the chatbot, aged 12 to 22, have been detained across Russia.
Durov announced earlier this year that Russian authorities had opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing them of creating pretexts to restrict access to Telegram as part of an effort to “suppress the right to privacy and freedom of expression.”
If convicted, Durov could face life in prison in Russia.
Under President Vladimir Putin, Russian authorities have made efforts on several fronts to rein in the Internet.
They have passed restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that don’t follow the rules, and are focusing on improving technology to monitor and manipulate online traffic.
Several popular social media platforms, such as Facebook, Instagram and X, are banned in Russia; YouTube is limited; Popular messaging apps, such as Signal and Viber, have been blocked, and the most popular – WhatsApp and Telegram – have been restricted.
While it is still possible to bypass some restrictions by using virtual private network services, many of them are also routinely blocked.
At the same time, Russia is actively promoting the “national” messaging app known as MAX, which critics say could be used for surveillance.
The platform is touted by developers and officials as a one-stop shop for messaging, online government services, making payments and more. It openly states that it will share user data with authorities upon request, and experts also say that it does not use end-to-end encryption.
Durov has faced criminal investigations elsewhere.
In 2024, he was arrested in Paris over allegations that his platform was used for illegal activities, including drug trafficking and the distribution of child sexual abuse images.
