France provides causes for arresting Telegram boss

French police arrested Telegram boss Pavel Durov at Paris-Le Bourget airport on August 24 when his personal airplane from Azerbaijan landed in Paris.

The arrest has been met with harsh criticism from Russia. Moscow has demanded an instantaneous clarification from France for the transfer. Deputy Chairman of the Russian Safety Council Dmitry Medvedev has warned that France might pay a heavy worth for the arrest of the Telegram founder.

In his first feedback on the incident, French President Emmanuel Macron affirmed that Mr. Durov was arrested for a judicial investigation, not associated to politics.

“The arrest of Telegram’s chief on French soil is a part of a judicial investigation. This isn’t a political determination, however relies on the choice of the judges,” Mr. Macron shared on his X account on August 26.

Mr. Durov was born and raised in Russia. He left Russia in 2014 after shedding management of his former social networking firm, Vkontakte.

He refused to adjust to authorities calls for to dam opposition teams on the platform and wouldn’t hand over information on Ukrainian protesters to safety providers. He moved to Dubai in 2017 and have become a French citizen in August 2021. The businessman is claimed to be value greater than $15 billion.

Telegram is among the world’s largest social platforms, with almost 1 billion customers. Earlier this yr, Mr. Durov mentioned that some governments have been making an attempt to exert strain, however Telegram remained impartial and unaffected by geopolitical components.

Some sources mentioned that a number of days earlier than his arrest in France, Mr. Durov had a direct assembly with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Baku. Nevertheless, the Kremlin denied the knowledge.