Russia charges Telegram's Durov with aiding terrorism

The FSB also pointed to a case in which 46 Russians were allegedly detained after being recruited by the Ukrainian side via a dating chatbot on Telegram. The agency said the alleged activity had caused casualties, including women and children, and material damage running into the billions of rubles.

Background to the dispute

Telegram and Durov had not commented on the FSB allegations at the time of writing. The FSB statement was first reported by the Interfax news agency, Reuters and Bloomberg.

The case is the latest chapter in a confrontation between Russian authorities and the Dubai-headquartered platform that stretches back more than a decade. Durov built the social network VKontakte in St. Petersburg from 2006 onwards and founded Telegram in 2013 together with his brother Nikolai. In 2014 he sold his remaining stake in VKontakte under pressure from Russian authorities and left Russia; by his own account, the departure was triggered by demands from security agencies for user data, including data on Ukrainian protest groups.

Durov holds citizenship of the United Arab Emirates and of France. He was detained at Paris-Le Bourget airport in August 2024 and subsequently charged on twelve counts, the core allegation being that Telegram does not act sufficiently against criminal activity and cooperates too little with authorities. Durov called the arrest 'legally and logically absurd'. Proceedings against him have been running in France since August 2024, and since June 2025 he has been permitted to travel to Dubai under certain conditions.

Tightening restrictions in Russia

Restrictions on Telegram inside Russia have tightened progressively. Since August 2025, the media regulator Roskomnadzor has been restricting Telegram's operations in Russia, and in February 2026 the restrictions were tightened on the grounds that the company was not complying with Russian law. Since the beginning of 2026, law enforcement bodies say fines totalling more than 100 million rubles (around $1.3 million) have been imposed on Telegram, largely over content that was not deleted.

In late February 2026, Durov disclosed that a criminal investigation was underway against him in Russia. He accused Russian authorities of fabricating pretexts to restrict access to Telegram and to "suppress the right to privacy and free speech." FSB chief Alexander Bortnikov accused Durov in February 2026 of acting out of self-interest and condoning criminal activity on the platform. Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday that contacts on restoring Telegram were underway, but that the messenger's representatives were not very active in them.

Broader internet crackdown

The move fits into a broader pattern of internet control in Russia. Under President Vladimir Putin, Russian authorities have pursued multipronged efforts to rein in the internet, intensifying after the full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Facebook, Instagram and X have been banned in Russia, while the messaging apps Signal and Viber have been blocked. YouTube has been throttled. WhatsApp and Telegram, the two most popular messaging apps in Russia, have been restricted, and the Russian state is promoting its own unencrypted messenger MAX as a competitor. Russia has also adopted restrictive laws and banned websites and platforms that do not comply with its regulations, and has focused on improving technology to monitor and manipulate online traffic.

Telegram says it has more than one billion users worldwide, and it remains one of the most popular messaging apps in Russia despite the restrictions. The new criminal charges, together with the international wanted alert, mark a sharp escalation of Moscow's long-running campaign against the platform.