A Russian-French billionaire who founded Telegram was arrested at Bourget airport outside Paris late on Saturday, moments after getting off his private jet, it has been reported.
Pavel Durov, who is known as Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg, the managing director of Facebook, was arriving from Azerbaijan when he was intercepted by authorities at about 8pm.
News broadcasters BFMTV and TF1 have quoted unnamed sources as saying the Russian-born entrepreneur – who became a French citizen in 2021 – is the subject of a search warrant.
Both suggest the investigation is focused on a lack of moderators on the app and potential criminal activity by users.
The 39-year-old is expected to appear in court late this afternoon when more will be revealed about possible charges.
One of the investigators told AFP they were surprised he entered France despite the warrant against him, adding ‘enough of Telegram’s impunity’.
Durov left Russia in 2014 just a year after setting up the encrypted messaging app with his brother.
It came as he refused to comply with government demands to close opposition communities on his VKontakte social media platform, which he sold.
‘I would rather be free than to take orders from anyone,’ Durov told US journalist Tucker Carlson in April about his exit from Russia and search for a home for his company which included stints in Berlin, London, Singapore and San Francisco.
Following his arrest last night, former Russian president Dmitry Medvedev said he ‘miscalculated by fleeing Russia’ and thinking that he would never have to answer to security services abroad.
He related a conversation he had with Durov several years ago in which he told him that if he did not want to cooperate with law enforcement agencies then he would have problems in any country.
Medvedev, the deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said Durov wanted to be a ‘brilliant “man of the world” who lives wonderfully without a Motherland.’
‘He miscalculated,’ Medvedev said. ‘For all our common enemies now, he is Russian and therefore unpredictable and dangerous.’
‘Durov should finally realise that one cannot chose one’s the fatherland.’
Durov, whose fortune was estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, has also received United Arab Emirates citizenship.
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