Russia Issues International Arrest Warrant for Pavel Durov

The Russian Federal Security Service (FSB) has filed an indictment against Telegram founder Pavel Durov on charges of aiding terrorist activities and has issued an international arrest warrant against him. According to the FSB, Telegram failed to remove content used by Ukrainian entities and other militant organizations to promote terrorist schemes and cyber fraud within the country.

In response, Telegram's official account on X posted an old photo of Durov giving the middle finger, without any further official comment. Incidentally, despite attempts by the Russian government to restrict the use of the application and promote a full local replacement with backdoors called MAX, even official bodies in the Kremlin continue to use Telegram daily, and it remains the most popular communication app in Russia.

Over the past year, Russia has begun to restrict Telegram's operations in the country, and Russian courts have fined the company more than 100 million rubles (about 3.9 million NIS) since the beginning of the year. The fines were imposed following its refusal to remove content prohibited in Russia. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov recently said that officials had discussed restoring full operations for Telegram, but according to him, the company has shown no willingness or desire to engage in talks.

Last April, Durov addressed the investigation in Russia, stating that the summons, which was sent to his old address, attributes to him offenses related to the protection of freedom of speech and privacy. Durov claimed that they likely suspect him of defending freedom of speech, and added: