Telegram founder Pavel Durov arrested upon arriving in France on his private jet

Founder and CEO of the messaging platform Telegram, Pavel Durov was arrested in France this Saturday night When? He disembarked from his private jet with his wife and his bodyguard. and has been taken into police custody, the TF1 network reported, citing sources in the investigation. Durov, who landed at Le Bourget airport – near Paris – from Azerbaijan, has been arrested by the Air Transport Gendarmerie As per the GTA a An arrest warrant had previously been issued for offences related to the messaging application.

In particular, as TF1 has reported, the justices understand that Telegram is A potential accomplice to commit fraud crimesagainst minors or drug trafficking, given the tools it provides, as well as the lack of restraint in its use and limited cooperation with the authorities. “He will be in preventive custody, that’s for sure,” The aforementioned channel was quoted as saying by investigators involved in the case, who have ruled that, “On his platform, (Durov) allowed countless crimes and offenses to be committed, which he did nothing to moderate or collaborate with.”

After being taken into police custody this Saturday night, it is possible that the preliminary investigation against the businessman, who is also the founder of the Russian social media platform VKontakte, will begin this Sunday. holders of French citizenship from 2021, However, he also holds an Emirati passport.

Although neither the French government nor the French prosecutor’s office have commented on the arrest, Russia launched a diplomatic offensive from its embassy in Paris, which has demanded that the French authorities fully respect Durov’s rights Before expressing regret, no one has contacted the diplomatic mission even hours after the arrest.

“Following reports in the media of Pavel Durov’s arrest, we call on the French authorities to immediately clarify the reason and guarantee the protection of his rights and his consular access,” the embassy said in a statement, before condemning it. “At the moment, the French side is avoiding any kind of dialogue with us on this issue.”

Deputy Speaker of the State Duma, Vladislav Davankov, has sent a letter to the Russian Foreign Minister, Sergei Lavrov, urging him to facilitate the release of Durov, whose arrest “conceals political motives and could be used to access personal information of Telegram users”.

Dmitry Medvedev, the former Russian prime minister and now deputy chairman of the Security Council, has also spoken out on the matter, although in somewhat more distant terms about Durov, who In recent years he has stressed in interviews that he no longer has any ties to his native country.

“Once, quite a long time ago, I asked Durov why he did not want to cooperate with law enforcement, and he replied that it was a matter of principle,” Medvedev said on his Telegram channel. “I told him that he would face serious problems in any country,” he added.

In this regard, Foreign Affairs spokeswoman Maria Zazarova has confirmed that Durov’s legal representatives have not yet made any requests to the Russian diplomatic mission.

It should be recalled that Durov was removed from the post of general director of the VKontakte social network.After refusing to cooperate with the main Russian security agency, the FSB, when it sought information on pro-Kremlin opposition groups.