Pavel Durov, CEO and co-founder of Telegram. (Steve Jennings/Getty Images via AFP)
Pavel Durov, the Telegram boss arrested in France, was
“too free” in his approach to running the social media platform, and
this was his undoing, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
A French judge put Russian-born Durov under formal
investigation last week for suspected complicity in running an online platform
that allows illicit transactions, child sex abuse images, drug trafficking and
fraud.
His lawyer has said it is “absurd” to suggest he
should be held responsible for any crimes committed on the app, which has
nearly 1 billion users and is widely popular in Russia, Ukraine and other
former Soviet countries.
Lavrov, in a speech to students at Moscow’s elite MGIMO
university run by the foreign ministry, echoed the Kremlin’s position that the
probe into Durov is part of a larger political ploy by the West to exert power
over Russia.
“Pavel Durov was too free,” Lavrov said. “He
didn’t listen to Western advice on moderating his brainchild.”
READ | Telegram’s boss has been arrested – here’s how the chat app shot to fame
Russia, after years of pressure on Durov and his tech
ventures, has rallied behind him.
Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov said last week that there
were no negotiations between the Kremlin and Durov, who also holds passports
from France and the United Arab Emirates.
“The main thing is that what is happening in France
does not turn into political persecution,” Peskov said last Thursday.
“We know that the president of France has denied any
connection (of the case) with politics, but on the other hand, certain
accusations are being made.”
French President Emmanuel Macron has denied any political
motive in the tech entrepreneur’s detention.
Lavrov earlier warned that Durov’s arrest – the first of a
major tech CEO – had plunged relations between Moscow and Paris to a new nadir.
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