Telegram app CEO Pavel Durov hit with criminal charges

Pavel Durov, the founder of messaging app Telegram, has been charged after authorities barred him from leaving France.

Telegram boss Pavel Durov has been charged in France for being complicit in the spread of crime on the controversial messaging app, including child sex abuse, drug trafficking, and fraud.

Mr Durvov was released from police custody on bail and ordered to stay in France as officials continue to investigate the allegations against Telegram, Bloomberg reports.

It comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin backed the tech tycoon following his arrest in France, despite the billionaire fleeing his native Russia a decade ago.

In a surprise twist, the Kremlin has said that the accusations against Mr Durov would be viewed as an attempt to restrict freedom of communication unless France had serious evidence.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call that Russia was ready to provide Mr Durov — who fled Russia in 2014 amid a row over free speech — with all necessary assistance given his Russian citizenship.

Russia has weighed into the arrest of tech billionaire Pavel Durov. Picture: Bloomberg

The anti-fraud office building in Paris where Pavel Durov is being held in custody. Picture: AFP

However, he said Mr Durov’s French citizenship complicated the situation.

“The charges are very serious indeed,” said Mr Peskov.
“They require a no less serious basis of evidence. Otherwise they will be a direct attempt to limit freedom of communication.”

Mr Durov was detained over the weekend after disembarking his private jet at a Paris airport as part of an investigation into crimes related to images of child sex abuse, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions on Telegram, French prosecutors said.

MYSTERY BLONDE MISSING

It comes as the mysterious blonde “crypto coach” who was travelling with the Telegram boss remains missing, with her family unable to locate her since the tech billionaire’s arrest.

Juli Vavilova, 24, a video game streamer, has become the focus of online speculation after posting glamorous photos from her apparent trip with Mr Durov to Azerbaijan last week, according to French privacy researcher Baptiste Robert.

Online observers speculate that those posts might have revealed details about the exiled Russian mogul’s movements before his arrest.

He was detained after his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport near Paris on Saturday.

“It’s complicated to say if her posts played a direct role in his arrest, but if you were following her on social media, you could easily track Durov’s movements,” Mr Robert told The New York Post.

Juli Vavilova who was travelling with Telegram boss Pavel Durov has gone missing, with her family unable to locate her since the tech billionaire’s arrest. Picture: Instagram

Pavel Durov stands accused of allowing criminals to run rampant on his platform, which emphasises users’ privacy above all. Picture: AFP

The 39-year-old billionaire is accused of failing to curb the spread of illegal content on Telegram, which has over 900 million users. The company has rejected the accusations.

Ms Vavilova’s family told AFP news that they have not been able to get in touch with her since Mr Durov’s arrest.

And while her relationship with Mr Durov is still unclear, her social media accounts feature numerous photos and videos of her travelling across the Middle East during the same period as the tech billionaire.

Mr Robert compiled a series of these posts on X, including videos of the pair together in Uzbekistan from a few months ago, shared by a Russian blogger.

Another post appears to show Ms Vavilova in the passenger seat of Mr Durov’s car in Azerbaijan on August 21.

They later shared images of themselves at the same shooting range and the same hotel in the capital city.

Dubai influencer Juli Vavilova had posted about her recent glamorous trips across the Middle East that appeared to coincide with Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s trips. Picture: X

It’s unknown how or when the pair met, but both of them live in Dubai, where Mr Durov based Telegram after fleeing Russia in 2014 when he refused to hand over encrypted data to the Kremlin.

His company said in a statement that Mr Durov was neither in hiding nor on the run, with the dual-French citizen regularly making trips to Europe.

“Telegram abides by EU laws, including the Digital Services Act, its moderation is within industry standards,” they said.

“It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform.”

Born in Soviet times into a family of academics in Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, Mr Durov spent his childhood in Italy before building up Russia’s then biggest social network VKontakte (VK) in his early 20s.

Juli Vavilova, 24, is also a video game streamer. Picture: @juliavilova/ Instagram

Supporters displaying paper planes as a reference to the logo of instant messaging service company Telegram outside France's Embassy in central Moscow, in support of Pavel Durov. Picture: AFP

He set up Telegram after leaving Russia a decade ago, and Forbes magazine estimates his current fortune at $US15.5bn ($22.8bn).

French President Emmanuel Macron has since come out denying any political link to the arrest of the tech tycoon.

In a post on X to address what he called “false information” concerning the case, Mr Macron said Mr Durov’s arrest “took place as part of an ongoing judicial investigation”.

“It is in no way a political decision. It is up to the judges to rule on the matter,” he wrote in a highly unusual comment on a legal case.

Mr Durov holds a French passport in addition to his Russian nationality.

France’s OFMIN, an office tasked with preventing violence against minors, issued an arrest warrant for Mr Durov in a preliminary investigation into alleged offences including fraud, drug trafficking, cyber-bullying, organised crime and promotion of terrorism, another source said.

Originally published as Telegram app CEO Pavel Durov hit with criminal charges