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Russia fined Telegram and tried to shut it down

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Durov blamed Kremlin pressure for decision to leave

country

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French investigation stirs furore in Russia

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Politicians accuse West of double standards

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Concern about security implications of probe

By Alexander Marrow and Mark Trevelyan

LONDON, Aug 29 (Reuters) - Days after gunmen killed 145

concert-goers at a venue near Moscow in March, as allegations

emerged that the assailants had been recruited on Telegram, the

Kremlin issued a stern warning to its founder.

"We would expect more attention from Pavel Durov, because

this unique and phenomenal resource ... is increasingly becoming

a tool in the hands of terrorists," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry

Peskov said.

Five months later, as French prosecutors pursue an

investigation into Telegram founder and boss Durov over the use

of the messaging app for fraud, drug trafficking, money

laundering and other forms of organised crime, Moscow has

changed its public stance on the tech entrepreneur.

With some Russians now hailing Durov as a hero of free

speech, Peskov said on Thursday that the case against him should

"not turn into political persecution".

Briefing reporters, he added: "We know that the president of

France (Emmanuel Macron) has denied any connection with

politics, but on the other hand, certain accusations are being

made. We will see what happens next."

Some Russian lawmakers have alleged, without providing

evidence, that the case against Durov has been orchestrated by

Washington. A source at the Paris prosecutor's office said the

probe had no connection to the United States and Macron had been

given no prior warning of the arrest.

"Pavel Durov remains a hostage of the 'dictatorship of

democracy' of the collective West," Leonid Slutsky, the leader

of a pro-Kremlin parliamentary party, wrote on Telegram.

The furore has provided Russia with an opportunity to

pursue a favoured line of attack: that the West, while claiming

to uphold values such as free speech, is really driven by a

vengeful desire to undermine Russia.

Ksenia Ermoshina, a researcher at Citizen Lab at the

University of Toronto and the Center for Internet and Society at

French institute CNRS, said Russia's strong reaction also

reflects security concerns because of the widespread use of

Telegram in military communications.

"Telegram has become a tool for Russian defence to

communicate internally," she said.

"If Durov is accused by the French government and he is in

the hands of French justice, they are afraid that he might give

access to his servers and, because there is no internal

encryption by default in Telegram, this will enable potential

access to sensitive information from the Russian army."

A lawyer for Durov said on Thursday it was "absurd" to

suggest the head of a social network was responsible for any

criminal acts committed on the platform. Telegram has said it

abides by European Union laws.

TROUBLED RELATIONS

Durov, 39, has not always been able to count on vocal

defenders in Russia, where his troubled relationship with the

authorities goes back more than a decade.

His first big tech venture - a Russian version of Facebook

called VKontakte (VK) - permitted forums for opposition

activists to organise protests against President Vladimir Putin,

and Durov refused to comply with demands to shut down late

opposition figure Alexei Navalny's anti-corruption blog.

In 2013, Russia's FSB security service requested the VK data

of Ukrainians protesting against the pro-Russian president who

was then in power in Kyiv.

"I refused to comply with these demands, because it would

have meant a betrayal of our Ukrainian users," Durov said in

March 2022. "After that, I was fired from the company I founded

and was forced to leave Russia."

Durov launched Telegram, now used by almost 1 billion

people, in 2013. Before long, Russia came after that platform,

too.

The FSB said militants had used Telegram to carry out a

suicide bombing on the St Petersburg metro in 2017, and state

communications regulator Roskomnadzor demanded that Durov "hand

over the keys" to information on the app.

Durov said those demands violated Russians' constitutional

right to keep their correspondence secret.

For two years from May 2018, Roskomnadzor sought to block

Telegram, efforts that were thwarted by rotating proxy servers,

hiding traffic and other anti-censorship tools.

Since then, the platform has continued to grow in

popularity, becoming an indispensable tool for everyone from

dissidents to bloggers on the war in Ukraine.

On the streets of Moscow on Thursday, people interviewed by

Reuters said they were following the case of Durov, who has

French as well as Russian citizenship.

Irina, a middle-aged woman who declined to give her last

name, alluded to the fact that the businessman had been invited

in the past to dine with Macron.

"Of course, this is alarming, this is a very unpleasant

thing," she said of Durov's arrest. "If this is such a set-up on

the part of the head of France, Macron, then this is beyond the

pale."

Mark, a young man in a white hoodie, said the case was

easily explained.

"This is politics. They've arrested a Russian billionaire in

France. Why not? It's beneficial for them, it's a blow to

Russia."