Durov, give me the keys.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been detained at Le Bourget airport in Paris. French law enforcement suspects him of involvement in “drug trafficking, crimes against children and fraud.” There is no doubt that this is connected with the desire of Western authorities to take control of secret chats in the messenger. In Russia (*aggressor country) and abroad, politicians, journalists and ordinary Internet users are demanding that Durov be released.

About the detention Pavel Durov became known on the evening of August 24. He arrived in Paris on a private Embraer Legacy 600 from Baku. Durov’s plane took off from the Azerbaijani capital at 15:00 Moscow time and landed near Paris at about 20:30. The businessman was immediately detained by security forces at the ramp and placed in custody.

It is worth immediately recalling the position of Pavel Durov: the businessman consistently refused to cooperate with any special services and assist the authorities.

The Paris prosecutor’s office, which has been handed over Durov’s case, plans to make a statement to the press on August 26. This reported TASS in the prosecutor’s office.

Did you know or didn’t you know?

According to some reports, Durov allegedly wanted to meet with the Russian president in Azerbaijan Vladimir Putin (*international criminal)who was there on August 18-19. However, he was reportedly denied an audience. There is no even indirect confirmation of this information. The coincidence of the dates of the Russian leader and businessman being in the same country is the only reason for such rumors to appear.

As TF1 writes, Durov was included in the list of wanted persons in France. The arrest warrant was issued by the French National Directorate of the Judicial Police based on a preliminary investigation. In 2021, he received French citizenship, so he will be tried as a citizen of this country.

According to the French press, Durov was aware that a warrant had been issued for him and that he was a “persona non grata” in France, but despite this, he still flew to the country. He generally traveled little around Europe, avoiding jurisdictions where Telegram was the focus of attention of security forces. It is unknown why the businessman changed this practice this time, as well as whether it was a mistake or a balanced decision.

The court may bring charges against Durov related to terrorism, drugs, fraud, money laundering, selling stolen goods and sexualized crimes against children. He could face up to 20 years in prison.

Durov will appear before an investigating judge (an official in France who, unlike a prosecutor, collects evidence for both the prosecution and the defense).

The position of French law enforcement agencies was voiced by one of the investigators handling Durov’s case:

“Accomplice” to crimes

It is obvious that the authorities’ actions against the founder of Telegram are due to their desire to take control of the messenger. They see the problem in the refusal to moderate content, as well as the use of some of the tools provided by the platform – in particular, disappearing chats, cryptocurrency and disposable numbers.

All this, as security officials believe, makes Durov an accomplice in crimes committed using the messenger.

A TF1 source calls Durov’s arrest a way to activate the work of law enforcement agencies, demonstrate their effectiveness and scare off criminals who use Telegram for their own purposes. In addition, the authorities expect other European countries to join the process to gain access to encrypted correspondence in terrorism cases.

The source noted that Telegram has been a key platform for organized crime for many years, and Pavel Durov is to blame for this. According to him, “He committed numerous offenses and crimes on his platform without moderation or cooperation with law enforcement.”.

A year ago, in August 2023, a representative of the Belgian Coordinator of Digital Services reported that Telegram was still not classified as a very large online platform (VLOP) under EU rules and therefore avoided certain restrictions and obligations. The number of users of the messenger at that time did not exceed 45 million per month. In February, Telegram reported 41 million average monthly users. Negotiations between BIPT, the European Commission and Telegram on this issue are still ongoing.

Unavailable codes

Pavel Durov, whose arrest is said to be due to his refusal to cooperate with French security agencies, has repeatedly made harsh statements about the intelligence services of various countries over the years. He claimed that he refused to help them and also spoke out against surveillance of ordinary people. For the latter, in particular, he regularly criticized the WhatsApp messenger. Durov openly called it a surveillance tool and urged users to stay away. As for Telegram, this platform, according to Durov, remains one of the few that does not abuse the trust of users. According to the businessman, messenger developers living in the United States must secretly introduce backdoors into their applications that give American intelligence services access to users’ personal data. According to Durov, if the application developer publicly declares this, he may face imprisonment.

It is worth remembering that Durov had a long-term conflict with the Russian special services, which resulted in a two-year blocking of Telegram. A year before the blocking, the FSB stated that the terrorist attack in the St. Petersburg metro was prepared and coordinated using the messenger. The platform was asked for encryption keys that would allow access to users’ correspondence, but its management refused, stating that this was impossible, since the encryption keys were stored on users’ devices, not on the company’s servers. In the end, Telegram never provided the keys, but began to cooperate with the authorities on specific requests related to terrorism.

Pavel Durov left Russia (*aggressor country) back in 2014. At that time, he headed the social network VKontakte. According to the businessman, the FSB demanded that he provide personal information about the organizers of the Euromaidan groups, but he refused. Later, Durov’s representative said that he did not plan to return to the Russian Federation (*aggressor country).

In 2015, Pavel Durov responded to the statement Germana Klimenkowho at that time held the post of head of the Institute for Internet Development, that “Telegram will either cooperate [с властями]or will be closed.” The platform’s founder emphasized that “the project has not and will not issue personal data and encryption keys to third parties”. Klimenko said that Durova “they will definitely ask to open access codes in America, France, and Germany, and he will either open it or it will be closed.” In response, the businessman stated that “secure methods of communication are not prohibited in Germany, France, or the United States.”

And in a recent interview with an American journalist To Tucker Carlson The businessman said that he also had a conflict with the American intelligence services. According to Durov, when he was last in the United States, the Telegram engineer who accompanied him received a job offer from the secret services. In addition, the American authorities demanded data on the participants in the storming of the Capitol in 2021, but were refused.

The businessman noted that the messenger is often considered a tool of the opposition, since it was used by protesters in different countries. However, according to him, “It doesn’t matter whether the opposition or the ruling party uses Telegram”because “the rules apply equally to all parties”.

Reaction in Russia (*aggressor country)

Pavel Durov, who left the country several years ago, nevertheless has a Russian passport. Therefore, the Russian Embassy in Paris is handling the situation. As reported by the Russian diplomatic mission, after information about Pavel Durov’s detention appeared in the press, the embassy immediately asked the French side for an explanation of the reasons for this, and also demanded that the businessman’s rights be protected and that consular access be granted. However, “As of today, the French side is still avoiding interaction on this issue”The embassy emphasized that they continue to maintain contact with Pavel Durov’s lawyer.

Vice Speaker of the State Duma Vladislav Davankov reported that he had sent a letter to the head of the Russian Foreign Ministry To Sergey Lavrov (*international criminal) with a request to facilitate the release.

As reported by RIA Novosti, the official representative of the Russian Foreign Ministry Maria Zakharova stated that Moscow sent a note demanding access to Durov, but Paris regards his French citizenship as his primary one.

Senator Andrey Klishas called the actions of the French security forces a fight for “freedom of speech” and “European values.” His colleague in the upper house of parliament Alexey Pushkov noticed that “A liberal dictatorship does not tolerate individuals who claim freedom and do not play by its rules”.

Deputy Chairman of the Security Council of the Russian Federation (*aggressor country) Dmitry Medvedev (*international criminal and alcoholic)in turn, recalled an old conversation with the founder of Telegram: “Once, quite a long time ago, I asked Durov why he did not want to cooperate with law enforcement agencies on serious crimes. “This is my principled position,” he said. “Then there will be serious problems in any country,” I told him.”

According to Medvedev (*international criminal and alcoholic), the businessman miscalculated by leaving Russia (*aggressor country) and obtaining a passport from another country, since for the West he still remains Russian, and therefore “unpredictable and dangerous.” He called on Durov to understand that “You can’t choose your homeland, just like you can’t choose your times.”.

After Durov’s arrest, the Toncoin (TON) cryptocurrency, which is used for transactions within Telegram, fell by 14%. The head of the “Safe Internet League” project also drew attention to this Ekaterina Mizulina. She called Durov’s arrest “a blow to TON, in which representatives of large Russian businesses invested”noting that this step is in fact a continuation of the sanctions policy on the part of the United States.

In Moscow, people are carrying paper airplanes to the French embassy – the symbol of Telegram. The same ones were used in support of the messenger when it was blocked in Russia (*aggressor country).

According to the Telegram channel Baza, high-ranking Russian officials have allegedly received orders to delete their official correspondence from Telegram. Some have not yet heard about this, but expect that such an order could come as early as next week.

Reaction abroad

The international community also did not leave Pavel Durov’s arrest without attention. On Sunday morning, many newspapers came out with corresponding headlines and photographs of the businessman on the front pages.

Reuters notes that Telegram is one of the largest social networks in the world, and the growing popularity of the platform has attracted attention from a number of countries due to security issues and data leaks. France 24 TV channel points out that the messenger “positions itself as an alternative to US-owned platforms that have been criticized for commercially exploiting users’ personal data”. Business Insider* points out that international pressure on social networks to moderate content in their apps is growing, and Durov’s detention is part of this trend. Business Insider also recalled Durov’s words, when he said in an interview with Carlson that he “wants to be free and not to obey anyone’s orders”.

American billionaire and owner of the social network X (formerly Twitter) Elon Musk joked that in 2030, people who liked the meme in Europe would be executed. He published an excerpt from an interview with Durov, in which he talks about freedom of speech. Musk accompanied the video with the hashtag #FreePavel. Later, the businessman expressed his thoughts on the differences between Durov and Zuckerberg. In his opinion, the head of Meta** (the owner of Facebook, Instagram, WhatsApp, the company is recognized in Russia (*aggressor country) as an extremist organization and is banned) will not be detained in the same way as the founder of Telegram was detained, since Zuckerberg “has already succumbed to censorship pressure” And “censors free speech and gives governments secret access to user data”.

Conservative American political commentator Tucker Carlson called Durov’s arrest “a warning to any platform owner who is unwilling to suppress the truth at the behest of governments”As the journalist emphasized, Durov was detained not by Russian authorities, but by a Western country that is an ally of Washington and an active member of NATO.

Former US NSA employee Edward Snowden assessed Durov’s arrest as “an attack on fundamental human rights, freedom of speech and association”noticing that “Macron has stooped to the level of hostage-taking as a means of gaining access to private communications”.

After Durov’s arrest, internet users pounced on the French president’s account Emmanuel Macron in X, demanding the businessman’s release. The hashtag #FreeDurov became one of the most popular on the X social network.