Russia charged Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov on Wednesday with facilitating terrorist activity and placed the Soviet-born Kremlin critic on an international wanted list.
The Federal Security Service (FSB) accused Durov’s messaging platform of supporting Ukrainian intelligence services. The agency claims a Telegram chatbot named “Daivinchik/Leo — acquaintances, communication and new friends” was used to recruit Russians “into sabotage and terrorist activities through deception and psychological manipulation.”
The FSB also accused Telegram of failing to remove numerous channels, chats and bots that it alleged were used by Ukrainian intelligence agencies and terrorist and extremist organizations to coordinate sabotage, terrorist attacks, mass killings and cyber fraud in Russia.