Telegram’s Durov Under Fire: Russia Files Charges Alleging Terrorism Assistance

The charges could expose Telegram founder Pavel Durov to a possible life sentence, escalating a legal battle that has already resulted in more than 100 million rubles in penalties against Telegram this year.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced Wednesday that it had charged Durov with allegedly assisting terrorist activities and added him to an international wanted list.

The FSB alleged that Telegram failed to remove channels, group chats, and bots that were reportedly used by Ukrainian intelligence-linked entities and extremist groups to coordinate sabotage, attacks, and cyber fraud activities within Russia, according to Interfax.

The accusations against Durov carry a potential sentence of life imprisonment. The FSB did not confirm whether it had requested an Interpol Red Notice, which would not by itself represent an international arrest warrant.

The development expands an investigation that began in February after Russian authorities moved to restrict Telegram’s operations. The platform has accumulated more than 100 million rubles ($1.25 million) in fines this year, largely over claims that it failed to remove content banned under Russian law, Interfax reported.

Telegram remains one of the crypto industry’s most important communication platforms, hosting blockchain projects, trading communities, automated bots, and Web3-focused Mini Apps.

The messaging service is also closely integrated with The Open Network (TON), whose native token was renamed from Toncoin to Gram in June. TON enables payments, tokenized assets, and Mini Apps within Telegram, providing access to the platform’s user base of more than 1 billion people, according to TON.

Gram was trading near $1.42, down about 2.4% over the previous 24 hours. Earlier this month, Durov said Telegram plans to launch a built-in, non-custodial Gram wallet that will be available directly within the Telegram app.