Russia adds Telegram founder Pavel Durov to terrorist list after charging him with facilitating terrorism

Designation as terrorist

Russia's financial monitoring agency, Rosfinmonitoring, added Telegram founder Pavel Durov to its list of "terrorists and extremists" on 30 July 2026. The listing, which effectively bans him from conducting financial transactions in Russia, came one day after the Federal Security Service (FSB) announced it had charged Durov with facilitating terrorism and issued an international arrest warrant. The FSB said in a statement carried by the Tass news agency:

“Telegram CEO P. Durov has been charged in connection with an ongoing criminal investigation.”

The charges and the dating bot

The FSB accuses Telegram of refusing to remove a dating bot, Leo Match Bot, that it says Ukrainian intelligence services have used since July 2025 to recruit young Russians for sabotage and attacks on security forces. According to the FSB, agents posed as young women on the bot, then pressured users into assaulting police officers and setting fire to energy and transport infrastructure. Authorities say 46 Russian citizens aged 12 to 22 have been arrested across 16 regions in connection with the scheme. More than 153,000 crimes allegedly committed via Telegram have been registered in Russia since 2022, and the media regulator Roskomnadzor has sent over 150,000 removal requests that were largely ignored, according to the German broadcaster n-tv.

Durov's response

Durov, 41, rejected the accusations on his Telegram channel. He said Russia had designated him a terrorist "because I refused the demands for mass surveillance and censorship on Telegram." He added that Russian officials "have apparently confused who can ban whom on the internet." Austrian public broadcaster ORF notes what the listing means in practice: under Russian law he may no longer publish information on the internet. Shortly after the FSB announcement, Telegram's account on X posted an old photograph of Durov raising his middle finger. Durov has long criticised governments for what he calls efforts to infringe on internet freedom, and he has previously accused Moscow of inventing pretexts to restrict access to Telegram in an attempt to "suppress the right to privacy and freedom of expression."

Legal and financial fallout

Two state-run newspapers reported earlier this year that the FSB investigation claimed Telegram had been used to organise the Crocus City Hall attack and the murder of Daria Dugina, accusations Durov rejected. Rosfinmonitoring said the restrictions against Durov do not extend to Telegram as a legal entity, but organisations handling money or property must freeze his assets and transactions. Humanitarian payments, including for his own subsistence and that of his family, are permitted. Russian lawyers quoted by the business daily Vedomosti and the newspaper Kommersant offered conflicting assessments of the risks for users who pay for Telegram premium subscriptions or advertise on the platform. State news agencies reported that the terrorism charge carries a sentence of up to 15 years, with the possibility of extension to life imprisonment. The defence lawyer Vladimir Zherebenkov told Tass the accusation was very serious and could be punished with life imprisonment if guilt were proven.

Durov's background and whereabouts

Born in St. Petersburg, Durov left Russia in 2014 after a conflict with the authorities over his previous social network, VKontakte. He holds French and Emirati passports, and the Associated Press reports he also has citizenship of St. Kitts and Nevis. In August 2024 he was arrested in France on charges related to the distribution of illegal content on Telegram, released after four days of questioning on bail of €5 million and placed under judicial supervision. The travel ban was later eased, and he settled in Dubai. Der Spiegel reported that at the end of July Durov announced on Telegram that he had travelled to Georgia.

Telegram's role in Russia

Telegram remains one of the most popular messaging platforms in Russia, with 65 million Russians still using it daily as of April, according to Durov. The Kremlin and the defence ministry continue to use the service daily, despite restrictions that began in August 2025. Ordinary Russians access the blocked app through virtual private networks (VPNs), many of which are themselves routinely blocked. A Russian official claimed Telegram's encryption had been compromised, allowing foreign intelligence to read Russian soldiers' messages, an assertion the company rejected outright, saying no breaches of Telegram's encryption have ever been found. Moscow has promoted a state-backed, unencrypted alternative called Max, which Durov has criticised as "built for surveillance and political censorship."