The founder of the online messaging service Telegram, Pavel Durov, has been arrested in France.
The Russian, who is wanted in France, was taken into police custody at Le Bourget airport on Saturday evening after his arrival from Azerbaijan, the broadcasters TF1 and BFMTV reported, along with other French media, citing investigative circles.
The Russian embassy in France has taken charge of the case, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Moscow quoted by the Russian state news agency Tass.
The French authorities have been called upon to allow consular access to Durov, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. “The only problem is that Durov also has French citizenship,” she explained on Russian state television. “Accordingly, France will regard him first and foremost as its citizen.”
French media reported that Durov was wanted in France because the authorities had launched a preliminary investigation against him. He is suspected of complicity in drug trafficking, fraud and child abuse offences because he failed to intervene in Telegram and cooperate with law enforcement agencies. According to TF1, an investigation could be opened against Durov on Sunday.
Tass reported that he Russian Foreign Ministry had issued a statement saying that its embassy in Paris immediately took the necessary steps, and that efforts are being made to clarify the situation, “though the businessman’s representatives have not submitted a request for help.”
Durov founded Telegram with his brother Nikolai after both had already launched the network Vk.com, a kind of Russian-language Facebook. Telegram is one of the most important online networks in Russia and many authorities and politicians there have accounts. The service is used by both sides in the conflict in Ukraine to make public statements.
Durov’s relationship with the Russian authorities is considered difficult, and he refused to pass on data on participants in the protest movement in Ukraine against the then President Viktor Yanukovych to the Russian secret service. He himself fled Russia shortly afterwards.
The Durov brothers promise to protect the data of Telegram users, leading to a fall-out between the eccentric internet billionaire and the Russian authorities several years ago.
But there are also accusations against the brothers in the West. The Telegram founders have been accused of not taking sufficient action against hate speech and incitement to violence, although Western and Russian authorities are said to have succeeded in persuading Telegram to delete Islamist terrorist propaganda.
