(Adnkronos) – Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has again accused the French secret services of having exerted pressure to interfere with the recent presidential elections in Romania. Speaking via video link at the Oslo Freedom Forum, Durov said: “I was asked by the head of French intelligence, Nicolas Lerner, to deactivate the Telegram channels of Romanian conservatives before the vote.” The statement contrasts with the official denial of the Dgse, the French foreign intelligence service, which called the accusations “totally unfounded”.
Durov, who holds French and Russian passports, has been under investigation in Paris since 2024 for the dissemination of illegal content on his platform and is currently subject to restrictions on travel abroad. He did not provide new evidence to support his claims, but denounced a climate of increasing pressure, adding that the French police had also requested the closure of a Telegram channel run by far-left protesters: “It was perfectly legitimate and we refused, despite the personal risks”.
The Romanian presidential elections took place in a tense climate, with a second round made necessary after accusations of Russian interference that led to the cancellation of Calin Georgescu’s victory last November. In the end, the European centrist Nicusor Dan prevailed. The Romanian Constitutional Court rejected the appeal of the ultra-conservative challenger George Simion, who denounced alleged French and Moldovan interventions, calling his accusations “completely false and unfounded”.
