Durov Included in List of Terrorists and Extremists

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been included in the list of terrorists and extremists by the Federal Financial Monitoring Service of Russia, known as Rosfinmonitoring. The corresponding entry, numbered 6895, appeared in the register's 'Individuals' section. It reads: 'DUROV PAVEL VALERYEVICH*, born on 10.10.1984, LENINGRAD CITY.'

Inclusion in the list leads to the blocking of bank accounts. Only limited amounts are permitted for cash withdrawal and spending.

On July 29, the Federal Security Service of Russia announced that Durov is being put on an international wanted list for supporting terrorism. The agency justified its decision by stating that the leadership of Telegram has not removed channels, conversations, and bots that are used by Ukrainian special services, as well as terrorist and extremist organizations, to carry out 'diversions, terrorist attacks, and mass killings.'

The FSB also noted that the messenger is being used by cyber fraudsters.

Experts emphasized on the air of Radio RBC that the charges against Durov do not extend to Telegram or its users. Lawyer Andrey Aksyonov stated that there is no direct link between the criminal case against the platform's founder and the status of the platform itself. If the requirements were to apply to the service as well, there could be two scenarios: it might be recognized as undesirable or as an extremist organization. Media lawyer Fedor Kravchenko expressed a similar view.