According to Cointelegraph, Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov visited Russia several times between 2015 and 2021. According to independent Russian-language news outlet Important Stories, Durov entered Russia more than 50 times during this period.
The report cites data on Durov’s movements leaked by Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB). Cointelegraph has not independently verified the data, and Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The data was allegedly leaked before August 20 and hidden again on August 26. Important Stories partially verified the data by speaking with an investigator for Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.
Durov made no attempt to conceal his travels. He reportedly flew on commercial flights between St. Petersburg and cities across Europe, and took a Russian Railways train from Russia to Helsinki, Finland.
Durov, a Russian national, co-founded Russian social network VKontakte in 2006. In 2014, he refused to comply with an FSB request for personal data of Ukrainian protesters, and subsequently resigned as CEO and sold his 12% stake to MegaFon CEO Ivan Tavrin.
Durov left Russia in April 2014. His only public visit to Russia was reportedly in the fall of 2014, when he returned for a few days to sell his data center ICVA Ltd.
Important Stories claims that official data shows that Durov has traveled to Russia several times since 2014, especially between 2015-2017 and 2020-2021. The only period in which he did not visit Russia was 2018-2020.
In an April interview with Tucker Carlson, Durov claimed he would not travel to places that did not align with Telegram's values, including Russia.
In 2018, the Russian government banned Telegram for refusing to provide state agencies with access to users’ encrypted messages. In 2020, Russia lifted the ban.
Durov was arrested in France on August 24 and charged with drug trafficking, fraud and organized crime for failing to adequately police illegal activity on the messaging platform.