Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) has announced that Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov is accused of aiding terrorist activities and procedures have begun to place him on the international wanted list.
According to the FSB, a criminal case has been opened against P. Durov under Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 of the Russian Criminal Code (aiding terrorist activities). The agency claims that despite the requirements of Russian legislation, the Telegram administration has not removed channels, chats, and bots allegedly used by Ukrainian special services, as well as terrorist and extremist organizations.
The FSB alleges that these resources were used to prepare and coordinate sabotage and terrorist acts on Russian territory, organize mass murders, and commit cyber fraud. According to the service, these activities resulted in numerous casualties and billions of rubles in material damage.
According to the agency's statement, more than 153,000 alleged crimes committed via Telegram have been recorded since 2022. These include the terrorist attack at the Crocus City Hall concert venue, the murders of Darya Dugina, Maxim Fomin (Vladlen Tatarsky), and several high-ranking military personnel, as well as bombings and arson attacks on military enlistment offices.
The FSB also stated that 475 terrorist acts allegedly prepared via Telegram in recent years, including 61 planned mass shootings in schools, have been prevented.
Furthermore, Russia's Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology and Mass Media (Roskomnadzor) announced that it had sent over 150,000 requests to the Telegram administration demanding the removal of illegal content, but these requests remained unanswered.
Pavel Durov and the Telegram administration have not yet issued an official statement regarding the accusations made by the Russian side.