Russia Charges Telegram Founder Durov With Aiding Terrorism

Russia’s FSB has charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorist activity, alleging the messaging platform failed to remove channels, chats and bots used by Ukrainian intelligence services and groups Russia deems terrorist or extremist; the agency also claimed a Telegram dating bot recruited minors for attacks. Authorities opened criminal cases and have restricted Telegram’s operation while previous investigations suggested Telegram traffic was routed through infrastructure tied to firms with FSB surveillance contracts; the report notes claims and incidents were not independently verified and Telegram disputed prior findings.