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Simply sign up to the Russian politics myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox.<\/span><\/p>\n Russia has opened an investigation into Telegram founder Pavel Durov for \u201cabetting terrorist activities\u201d, in the latest sign that his uneasy relationship with the Kremlin has broken down.<\/p>\n Two Russian newspapers, including the state-run Rossiiskaya Gazeta and Kremlin-friendly tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda, alleged on Tuesday that the messaging app had become a tool of western and Ukrainian intelligence services. <\/p>\n The articles, credited to materials from Russia\u2019s FSB security service, accused Telegram of enabling attacks in Russia and said that Durov\u2019s \u201cactions\u2009.\u2009.\u2009. are under criminal investigation\u201d. Russian authorities did not immediately comment on the reports.<\/p>\n Russia has restricted Telegram\u2019s functions, accusing it of flouting the law and steering users towards Max, a state-run rival messenger. The steps escalate pressure on a platform that remains deeply embedded in Russian public life.<\/p>\n Durov left Russia in 2014 after saying the Kremlin forced him to sell his stake in VK, the country\u2019s largest social network, and has since cast Telegram as a privacy-first alternative to state control. He subsequently gained French and Emirati citizenship.<\/p>\n Although Moscow tried and failed to block the app in 2018, it later reached an accommodation.<\/p>\n Telegram has become central to Russian public life and is used by 105mn monthly users in the country<\/span> \u00a9 Getty Images<\/span><\/p>\n Durov has also faced scrutiny in the west. French authorities placed him under formal investigation in 2024 over Telegram\u2019s alleged failure to tackle criminal activity, accusations he denies.<\/p>\n The articles published on Tuesday accused Telegram of complying with orders from western governments while ignoring Russian requests, and said Ukraine had used the data for attacks on Russia.<\/p>\n They claimed Telegram had been used in 13 Ukrainian attempts to assassinate high-ranking Russian military officers, as well as a further 33,000 \u201cbombings, arson attacks on recruitment centres, and murders\u201d since the war began.<\/p>\n \u201cTelegram has become the main instrument of Nato countries\u2019 secret services and the \u2018Kyiv regime.\u2019 The platform has shied from nothing \u2014 intercepting location data, selling secret information and intimidating soldiers and their families,\u201d Rossiiskaya Gazeta wrote. <\/p>\n \u201cDigital platforms have ceased to be a neutral space. In the conditions of total hybrid warfare they are becoming strategic weapons,\u201d it added.<\/p>\n Telegram and Durov did not immediately respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n Moscow\u2019s moves against Telegram and its chief executive could usher in significant changes in Russia, where the Dubai-based app has more than 105mn monthly users. <\/p>\n Even after Russia banned most western social media platforms during the war in Ukraine, ministries publish official statements on Telegram, soldiers use it to co-ordinate actions on the front lines and President Vladimir Putin\u2019s spokesperson speaks to the media via the app. <\/p>\n Recommended<\/p>\n Russia began throttling Telegram\u2019s traffic earlier this month over what it said was its refusal to store user data in the country and censor content on demand.<\/p>\n Internet censors also blocked WhatsApp and degraded access to YouTube. Russia began limiting voice and video calls on Telegram and WhatsApp last year.<\/p>\n Following the latest moves, Durov accused Russia of \u201crestricting access to Telegram to force its citizens onto a state-controlled app built for surveillance and political censorship\u201d.<\/p>\n The attacks on Telegram have already attracted criticism among the Kremlin\u2019s own supporters, including governors of regions on the Ukrainian border who use it to warn of incoming drone and missile attacks.<\/p>\n FSB director Alexander Bortnikov said last week that Russia had previously negotiated with Durov over Telegram and abandoned those efforts after it \u201cdid not lead to anything good\u201d. <\/p>\n Bortnikov did not say what the talks were about or when they were, but accused Durov of \u201cserving his own selfish interests\u201d and enabling \u201ca large number of violations of the law\u201d.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Stay informed with free updates Simply sign up to the Russian politics myFT Digest — delivered directly to your inbox. Russia has opened an investigation into Telegram founder Pavel Durov for \u201cabetting terrorist activities\u201d, in the latest sign that his uneasy relationship with the Kremlin has broken down. Two Russian newspapers, including the state-run Rossiiskaya<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":45104,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[49],"tags":[5350,23283,609,23282,12417,523,1415,23281],"class_list":{"0":"post-45103","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-business","8":"tag-deepens","9":"tag-durov","10":"tag-founder","11":"tag-pavel","12":"tag-rift","13":"tag-russia","14":"tag-targets","15":"tag-telegram"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=45103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/45103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/45104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=45103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=45103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/naijaglobalnews.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=45103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}