Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said on July 29 that it had opened a criminal case against Telegram founder Pavel Durov, accusing him of “assisting terrorist activity,” and issued an international arrest warrant that placed him on a wanted list. Under Russian law, the charge carries a maximum sentence of 15 years in prison.
Durov has close ties to the ecosystem around TON, short for The Open Network, and the case has drawn attention across both the Telegram and TON communities.
FSB says Telegram failed to remove content
The FSB said the central allegation is that Telegram failed to remove content used by Ukrainian intelligence units and “extremist” groups to coordinate sabotage, cyber fraud, and armed attacks.
According to Russian state newspaper Rossiyskaya Gazeta and Interfax, the FSB claims Telegram has been involved in more than 153,000 crimes since 2022, covering terrorism, extremism, and sabotage. In this case, Russian authorities are targeting Durov personally rather than focusing only on the platform.
Durov says Russia is trying to fabricate a case
Durov currently lives in Dubai and holds French and UAE citizenship. In an earlier response to reports that the FSB was investigating him, he said Russian authorities were trying to “fabricate a pretext” to impose a full ban on Telegram.
The warrant comes after months of restrictions on Telegram by Russian regulators. Telegram has about 90 million users in Russia, but after communications regulator Roskomnadzor deliberately slowed download speeds and blocked video and voice calls, the app has become difficult to use normally without a VPN.
Separate from the France case
The report said this case is different from the separate matter in which Durov was arrested in France in 2024 and investigated there.