Russia charges Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorism, issues arrest warrant: report

Russia's Federal Security Service has charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorist activity and placed him on an international wanted list over the messaging platform's alleged failure to remove content used to coordinate attacks inside Russia, according to Interfax.

The FSB said Wednesday that Durov was charged under the Russian Criminal Code, which covers assistance to terrorist activity, per the Interfax report. Reuters separately reported that the agency had issued an international warrant for his arrest.

According to the FSB, the case relates to Telegram's alleged failure to remove channels, chats and bots that it said were used by Ukrainian special services, terrorist, and extremist organizations to coordinate acts of sabotage, terrorism, mass killings, and cyber fraud within Russia.

Telegram, an encrypted messaging platform founded in 2013, has more than 1 billion users and is widely used by both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war.

The Block reached out to Durov and Telegram for comment. 

Meanwhile, the charges mark the latest escalation in Russia's long-running dispute with Telegram. Interfax reported that the platform has been fined more than 100 million rubles ($1.3 million) this year for failing to remove content prohibited under Russian law. Russia has also continued restricting Telegram's operations while promoting its state-backed MAX messaging service.

Durov, who holds Emirati and French citizenship, was previously arrested by French authorities in 2024 over allegations that Telegram failed to adequately counter criminal activity on its platform and did not sufficiently cooperate with law enforcement requests. Durov denies wrongdoing.

In June 2025, French authorities allowed him to travel to Dubai for a second time, though under temporary travel restrictions. Durov slammed the arrest as "legally and logically absurd" and said French authorities have failed to find wrongdoing on Durov's part.

The latest development comes as Telegram has expanded its digital asset strategy. Earlier this month, Durov said the company plans to roll out a native non-custodial GRAM wallet to Telegram's roughly 1 billion users, following the June rebranding of The Open Network's native token from Toncoin to GRAM as Telegram assumes a larger role in the ecosystem.

Toncoin traded at $1.41 on Wednesday, down 3.03% over the past 24 hours, according to The Block's TON price page.