![FILE PHOTO: Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov delivers a keynote speech during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona](https://turan.az/resized/news/2024/BUloUAT8BBRteEVZUSgZleYD5sPXnv6wKpqmsEpC-750-500-resize.webp)
FILE PHOTO: Founder and CEO of Telegram Pavel Durov delivers a keynote speech during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona
Russia says Telegram boss Durov is a victim of his own independence
Reuters: MOSCOW (Reuters) - Pavel Durov, the Telegram boss arrested in France, was "too free" in his approach to running the social media platform, and this was his undoing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
A French judge put Russian-born Durov under formal investigation last week for suspected complicity in running an online platform that allows illicit transactions, child sex abuse images, drug trafficking and fraud.
His lawyer has said it is "absurd" to suggest he should be held responsible for any crimes committed on the app, which has nearly 1 billion users and is widely popular in Russia, Ukraine and other former Soviet countries.
Lavrov, in a speech to students at Moscow's elite MGIMO university run by the foreign ministry, echoed the Kremlin's position that the probe into Durov is part of a larger political ploy by the West to exert power over Russia.
"Pavel Durov was too free," Lavrov said. "He didn't listen to Western advice on moderating his brainchild."
Russia, after years of pressure on Durov and his tech ventures, has rallied behind him.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week that there were no negotiations between the Kremlin and Durov, who also holds passports from France and the United Arab Emirates.
"The main thing is that what is happening in France does not turn into political persecution," Peskov said last Thursday.
"We know that the president of France has denied any connection (of the case) with politics, but on the other hand, certain accusations are being made."
French President Emmanuel Macron has denied any political motive in the tech entrepreneur's detention.
Lavrov earlier warned that Durov's arrest - the first of a major tech CEO - had plunged relations between Moscow and Paris to a new nadir.
In World
-
Russian forces are fighting in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Selydove and Ukrainsk, pro-Russian bloggers said on Monday, as Moscow's forces try to smash through part of Ukraine's defensive line.
-
Loud explosions rocked Ukraine's capital Kyiv early on Monday as Russia launched a barrage of missiles, sparking fires and damaging homes and infrastructure, officials said.
-
Ukraine launched one of its biggest-ever drone attacks on Russia over the weekend, hitting a refinery and power station deep inside the country, according to videos posted on social media and geolocated by CNN.
-
Russia sees U.S. Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris as a more predictable opponent than Republican Donald Trump, though in any case there is no prospect of an improvement in relations with Washington, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said.
Leave a review