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Russia Charges Telegram’s Founder With Facilitating Terrorism

The case against Pavel Durov reflected an ongoing fight over one of the world’s most popular messaging and media apps, which is widely used in the country.

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By Ivan Nechepurenko and Adam Satariano

July 29, 2026Updated 9:46 a.m. ETLeer en español

Russia’s main security service said on Wednesday that it had charged the founder of Telegram, one of the most popular messaging apps in the country and around the world, with facilitating terrorism, escalating the Kremlin’s efforts to restrict all means of communication not under its direct control.

The security service, the F.S.B., said in a statement that it had issued an international warrant to arrest the Telegram founder, Pavel Durov, 41, who is Russian-born.

The service accused Telegram of failing to remove information “actively used by Ukrainian special services, terrorist organizations and extremist organizations to prepare and coordinate sabotage and terrorist acts, mass killings and cyber fraud activities” in Russia. The charges are just the latest in a broad campaign by governments across geopolitical and ideological divides to rein in Telegram, which was founded in 2013 by Mr. Durov. Although the app has been a lifeline to people in authoritarian countries like Russia who seek ways to communicate freely, it has also become a global center of criminal activity, disinformation and hateful content.

While autocratic countries such as Russia and Iran have moved to restrict access to the app, many democratic nations have also sought to make its leadership more responsive to their demands. Mr. Durov’s willingness to defy governments has increasingly made him and his company targets.

Russia last year restricted the use of Telegram and promoted an alternative, MAX, a state-backed messaging app. The restrictions on Telegram included an effort to limit access to virtual private networks, or VPNs, that allowed people to continue using the service.

Despite the restrictions, Telegram is widely used in Russia through VPNs, not only for direct communication but also by media outlets to relay news and other information not sanctioned by the Kremlin. The service is also popular among the military on both sides of the Russia-Ukraine war.

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