Russia Opens Criminal Investigation Into Telegram CEO Pavel Durov

Russia has opened a criminal investigation into Telegram founder Pavel Durov on suspicion of allowing terrorist activities to be facilitated on the messaging platform.

The Details: The story was first reported by state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta and later confirmed by Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov, who said, "We are, of course, familiar with these reports. They are based on materials provided by the Federal Security Service (FSB), which is doing its job." Rossiyskaya Gazeta claimed that "the illusion of anonymity has drawn armies of radicals, drug dealers, murderers, and terrorists to the messenger, creating threats to our society." Durov called the investigation an attempt to "suppress the right to privacy and free speech" and "a sad spectacle of a state afraid of its own people."

For Context: A few weeks ago, Russian Telegram users experienced slowdowns and outages when the state communications regulator Roskomnadzor imposed restrictions on the platform. According to Rossiyskaya Gazeta, Roskomnadzor has flagged over 150,000 incidents of illegal conduct on Telegram since 2022, and Telegram never replied. In recent months, Russian officials have promoted a new app called "MAX" that allows users to communicate with each other, make payments, and access government services. The app was developed by Vkontakte, which has often been referred to in the past few decades as the "Russian Facebook."

Past Storylines: In August 2024, Durov was arrested and detained by the French government on suspicion of allowing terrorist activities, trafficking, child pornography, and fraud to occur on the platform. At the time of the arrest, The Washington Times (Lean Right bias) called it an attack on free speech, while Bloomberg (Lean Left) framed Telegram as an extremist platform. A few months prior, Durov told Tucker Carlson (Right) that the FBI previously approached a Telegram engineer covertly, asking them to install a "backdoor" into the platform. Durov was released and allowed to leave France in May 2025. In November 2025, he claimed the French government pressured him to remove Moldovan channels it didn't like ahead of Moldova's parliamentary elections.

How The Media Covered It: Outlets across the spectrum mentioned context from Rossiyskaya Gazeta's reporting, though Kremlin-funded RT's (Lean Right) coverage relied mostly on the report and other pro-Kremlin details. It also noted recent prolific acts of terror in Russia that were carried out via communications on Telegram. Britain-based The Guardian (Left) and EU-based Euronews (Center) gave context on MAX, which RT did not. Euronews and The Guardian both included significant context on Durov's previous run-ins with governments. The Guardian framed the Kremlin's investigation as part of a state campaign to control the internet.

Written by the AllSides staff (of humans). Learn more. Support our mission. Suggest an improvement to this summary.