The Kremlin has set its sights on Telegram.
The crackdown by the Russian government on the Telegram social media platform escalated considerably as news arose of a criminal investigation into the company’s founder and CEO, Pavel Durov.
Durov broke the news yesterday (24) in his Telegram channel:
“Russia has opened a criminal case against me for ‘aiding terrorism’. Each day, the authorities fabricate new pretexts to restrict Russians’ access to Telegram as they seek to suppress the right to privacy and free speech. A sad spectacle of a state afraid of its own people.”
Russia opened a criminal investigation into Telegram founder Pavel Durov on charges of facilitating terrorist activity, according to state-owned Rossiyskaya Gazeta and pro-government tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda.https://t.co/IL2bCHThkp pic.twitter.com/P2ml85Du4a
— euronews (@euronews) February 24, 2026
Politico reported:
“Russian authorities have launched a criminal investigation into Telegram founder Pavel Durov over allegations his messaging platform facilitated terrorist activity, sharply escalating the Kremlin’s long-running standoff with the tech billionaire.
State-run Rossiyskaya Gazeta and Kremlin-friendly tabloid Komsomolskaya Pravda reported Tuesday that investigators are examining whether Telegram was used to coordinate attacks, including the 2024 Crocus City Hall massacre, as well as the Killing of Darya Dugina — daughter of nationalist ideologue Aleksandr Dugin — and General Igor Kirillov.”
“Both outlets, citing Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB), claimed Telegram has been used in more than 153,000 crimes since 2022, including roughly 33,000 cases involving sabotage, terrorism, or extremism. The reports also accused Durov of ignoring more than 150,000 takedown requests from Russia’s media regulator Roskomnadzor.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov piled the pressure on, telling reporters Tuesday that authorities had recorded ‘a large number of violations’ and Telegram’s ‘unwillingness … to cooperate’.”
RT reported:
”’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, Peskov said.
The article claimed that ‘the illusion of anonymity has drawn armies of radicals, drug dealers, murderers, and terrorists to the messenger, creating threats to our society’.
It also stated that since the escalation of the Ukraine conflict in 2022, Telegram has become ‘the main tool of NATO special services and the ‘Kyiv regime’, which obtains information shared on the app and uses it for military purposes’.”
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