Russia Accuses Telegram’s Pavel Durov of Terrorism Support, Escalating Legal Battle

The allegations could carry a potential life sentence, intensifying a legal case that has already resulted in more than 100 million rubles in fines against the platform this year.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) has charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with allegedly assisting terrorist activities and added him to an international wanted list, according to a statement released by the agency on Wednesday.

The FSB claims Telegram failed to remove channels, chats, and bots that were allegedly used by Ukrainian intelligence-linked groups and extremist organizations to coordinate sabotage operations, attacks, and cybercrime activities within Russia, Interfax reported.

The charges against Durov carry penalties that could extend to life imprisonment. The FSB did not confirm whether it had submitted a request for an Interpol Red Notice, which would not automatically represent a global arrest warrant.

The latest action expands an investigation that began in February after Russian authorities started imposing restrictions on Telegram’s operations. The messaging platform has accumulated more than 100 million rubles ($1.25 million) in fines this year, mainly related to allegations that it failed to remove content banned under Russian regulations, according to Interfax.

Telegram remains one of the most influential distribution channels in the cryptocurrency industry, hosting blockchain communities, trading groups, automated bots, and crypto-focused Mini Apps.

The platform is also closely connected 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 the network with access to the messaging platform’s user base of more than 1 billion people, according to TON’s website.

Gram was trading at $1.42, down around 2.4% over the previous 24 hours. Earlier this month, Durov announced that Telegram plans to introduce a built-in, non-custodial Gram wallet across all versions of its application.