Durov responded to accusations of terrorism: "Don't confuse who the real partners are here."
Telegram founder Pavel Durov gave a sharp response to the decision of Russian authorities to add him to the register of "terrorists and extremists." As I expected, this step is not so much a legal procedure as a political demonstration. Moscow is essentially punishing the messenger's creator for his principled stance on protecting user privacy.
Let me remind you that the day before, the Federal Security Service (FSB) opened a criminal case against Durov, and the very next day, Rosfinmonitoring included him in the relevant list. Durov's own reaction was laconic and sharp. In his Telegram channel, he published a short statement accompanied by a meme: a collage showing a photo of Durov himself with the caption "terrorist" next to an image of Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov being greeted by representatives of the Taliban (an organization removed from Russia's list of terrorist organizations in April 2025) with the caption "respected partners." The caption under the image — "don't confuse them" — speaks for itself.
In his statement, Durov wrote: "Russia has declared me a 'terrorist' for refusing to comply with demands for mass surveillance and censorship on Telegram. Under Russian law, I am now forbidden from 'publishing information on the internet.' Russian officials seem to have confused who can ban whom on the internet."
What does this mean for Durov and Telegram?
From a legal standpoint, inclusion in the register means blocking Durov's personal assets in Russian banks and ceasing the provision of financial services to him. However, this does not directly apply to Telegram Group Inc. itself. More serious is that the 41-year-old entrepreneur is now on an international wanted list and faces life imprisonment. At the same time, as is known, Durov holds citizenship of France and the UAE and lives in Dubai, where arrest without an extradition agreement with Moscow is unlikely.
The market, by the way, barely reacted to this news. The token of the Gram project (formerly Toncoin) is trading at around $1.42, up 1.7% over the day. Investors clearly perceive what is happening as a political spectacle that has no direct impact on the fundamental indicators of the blockchain project.
My analysis: This step by the Kremlin is a classic escalation in the conflict with an independent technology platform. Durov chose not a legal but a satirical form of defense, which only underscores the absurdity of a situation where a state negotiating with a de facto terrorist organization declares the creator of the country's most popular messenger a terrorist. This is a dangerous precedent for the entire crypto and tech industry, showing that pressure on privacy can take the most extreme forms.