Brussels 27.08.2024 Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said that relations with France are at their lowest level following the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov at Le Bourget airport near Paris. The arrest has provoked a stream of condemnations from Russia, although the Kremlin tried to take control over Telegram in 2018.

On Monday August 26 French judicial authorities extended the detention of Pavel Durov for up to 48 hours. The Paris prosecutor’s office on the same day stated that Durov had been arrested as part of an ongoing probe into crimes related to child pornography, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions on the platform.

In Russia many voices have been speaking up in support of Durov. Some in the political opposition and some from circles close to President Putin are condemning the arrest of the tech mogul, who was born in the USSR, in Leningrad in 1984.

The Kremlin has had a similar response. Lavrov’s comment on Tuesday came after Kremlin spokesman Dmity Peskov said that France had levelled “very serious” charges against Durov “that require neither less serious evidences”.
“Otherwise, this would be a direct attempt to restrict freedom of communication,” said Peskov, who also warned Paris against trying to intimidate Durov.

Foreign ministry spokesperson Maria Zakharova criticised the arrest as symptomatic of how “liberal dictatorships” undercut commitments to human rights “when it suits them” in an interview with a Russian state broadcaster, The Moscow Times reported on Sunday. A deputy vice president of the lower-house Duma, Vladislav Davankov, joined a rally outside the French embassy in Moscow to demand the release of Durov.

The arrest of Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of the messaging app Telegram, on suspicion of allowing criminal activity on his platform has nothing to do with the company’s obligations under the EU’s Digital Services Act (DSA), a spokesperson for the European Commission said on August 26.

“Criminal prosecution is not among the potential sanctions for a breach of the DSA. The DSA does not define what is illegal nor does it establish any criminal offence and can therefore not be invoked for arrests. Only national [or international] laws that define a criminal offence can be invoked,” the spokesperson said.

“We are closely monitoring the developments related to Telegram and stand ready to cooperate with the French authorities should it be relevant,” the Commission added.
Soviet-born Durov was arrested after he flew into Le Bourget airport outside Paris on his private jet on Saturday night, August 24.

Today Florian Philippot, the leader of the French “Patriots” party, has been calling on President Emmanuel Macron to explain the detention of Telegram founder Pavel Durov.

“..Canard Enchaîné (newspaper) just reported that the head of Telegram told the police he was planning to have dinner with Macron that evening! Macron is definitely capable of such deception to fulfill the mission ordered by his masters: to imprison everyone who defends freedom of speech! We demand answers from Macron!” the politician wrote on X social network page.