(Adnkronos) – Russia has added Telegram founder Pavel Durov to a blacklist of “terrorists and extremists,” days after declaring its intention to arrest him on charges of allowing his platform to be used by Ukrainian intelligence. Earlier this week, the FSB security service announced it had initiated international arrest procedures for Durov, although it is unclear which countries would cooperate with Moscow, and today his name appeared in Russia’s online register of “terrorists and extremists,” a blacklist maintained by Russia’s financial watchdog Rosfinmonitoring, which prevents those named from conducting transactions within Russia.
Moscow frequently targets political enemies with accusations of supporting “terrorism” or “extremism,” including those who have left the country. The FSB stated that Telegram had failed to remove a popular dating bot that, according to Moscow, is used by Ukrainian special services to lure young Russians “into terrorist and sabotage activities.” Durov, who has lived outside Russia for years and holds French and Emirati passports, has frequently clashed with Russian authorities as Moscow has tightened its control over the internet.
Telegram is one of the country’s main communication platforms, and officials have repeatedly tried to block its access or hinder its success in an attempt to pressure Durov into handing over user data, or to push Russians to use an unencrypted, state-backed alternative, Max, which the entrepreneur criticized as “built for surveillance and political censorship.”
