Russia’s main domestic security agency announced today that Pavel Durov, founder of the Telegram messaging app, has been charged with complicity in terrorism and added to an international wanted list.
In a statement, the Federal Security Service, also known as the FSB, accused Telegram’s administration of failing to remove numerous channels, chats and bots that it claims are actively used by Ukrainian intelligence services and terrorist and extremist organizations to plan and coordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism, mass killings and cyber fraud within Russia, resulting in what it described as numerous human casualties.
The agency accused Ukrainian security services of using a popular dating chatbot on Telegram to lure and recruit Russians into sabotage and terrorist activities, noting that 46 users of the chatbot, ranging in age from 12 to 22, have been detained across Russia since July 2025.
These measures form part of a longer-running effort by the Kremlin to bring the internet fully under its control, a push that has intensified since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine on February 24, 2022.
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Durov, who was born and began his career in Russia before later relocating abroad, announced earlier this year that Russian authorities had opened a criminal investigation against him, accusing Russian officials of manufacturing pretexts to restrict access to Telegram in an effort to suppress the right to privacy and freedom of expression. If convicted, Durov could face a life sentence in Russia.
Several popular social media platforms, including Facebook, Instagram and X, have already been banned in Russia. YouTube has had its speeds throttled, popular messaging apps such as Signal and Viber have been blocked outright, and the two most widely used platforms, WhatsApp and Telegram, have faced growing restrictions.
While it remains possible to bypass some of these restrictions using virtual private network (VPN) services, many VPNs are also routinely blocked. At the same time, Russia has been actively promoting a domestic messaging app known as MAX, which critics warn could be used as a tool for surveillance and control.
