Russia announced Wednesday that it had issued an international arrest warrant for Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov, who was born in Russia and holds French and Emirati passports, and whom it accuses of complicity in "terrorism".
"An international arrest warrant has been issued" for Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, the Russian security services (FSB) said in a press release.
Durov, who is currently in France, faces charges in Russia of "aiding and abetting terrorism as part of a criminal investigation" into the training of young Russians by Ukrainian special services for sabotage activities, the statement said.
Following a dramatic arrest as he stepped off a plane in August 2024, Pavel Durov—who became a naturalised French citizen in 2021—was indicted two years ago in France for a series of offenses related to organised crime; French authorities broadly accuse him of failing to take measures against the dissemination of criminal content on his messaging platform.
He is subject to strict judicial supervision, which prohibits him from leaving France without authorisation from the authorities.
The FSB accuses his messaging service, Telegram, of failing to remove a highly popular dating bot that, according to Moscow, was used by Ukrainian intelligence services to train young Russians “in terrorist and sabotage activities.”
According to the statement, 46 Russian citizens aged 12 to 22 who were using the Leo Match Bot—which is banned in Russia—have been arrested since July 2025 in various Russian regions for assaulting law enforcement officers and committing acts of sabotage against energy and transportation infrastructure.
They were all contacted via this bot by Ukrainian special services agents posing as young women in order to pressure them and push them to attack police officers and set fire to infrastructure sites, the FSB claims.
Russia, which has been conducting a large-scale offensive in Ukraine since February 2022, has been enforcing unprecedented digital restrictions for months, notably by limiting access to Telegram and another Western messaging service, WhatsApp—both of which are accused of being used by
Ukrainian intelligence agencies to the detriment of the country’s security.
