Russian military bloggers are panicking after Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder and CEO of the messaging app Telegram, was arrested at a Paris airport on Saturday evening.
When news broke that Russian-born Durov had been arrested after his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport, pro-war military analysts and bloggers used the platform to lament the future of the conflict in Ukraine and highlight that Telegram was a crucial means of communication within the Russian army.
Telegram's 39-year-old founder, who holds both French and Russian citizenship, was arrested as part of an investigation into allegations that he used the messaging platform for fraud, drug trafficking, money laundering and other crimes, French media reported.
Telegram, founded in 2013, issued a statement late Sunday saying Durov had “nothing to hide” and complied with all EU laws. “It is absurd to claim that a platform or its owner is responsible for the misuse of that platform,” it said.
Reacting to the news, Russian journalist Alexander Sladkov said the Russian military conducts half of its communications through the messaging app and that an alternative needs to be created “urgently.”
“Pavel Durov has been arrested. This attack on the owner of [Telegram]which accounts for half of the messages in the [war] It was to be expected that the war would be held. Now we urgently need to create a Russian military messenger,” he wrote.
“Would it have been impossible to think about it earlier?! Why did the Wagner group have such an ambassador, but the armed forces of our great Russia did not?!?” Sladkov asked, referring to the Russian paramilitary group led by the late Yevgeny Prigozhin. “And there is no one to punish. Or maybe we should not look for the guilty? Russia's punishment is negligence. And this is a nightmare.”
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Russian military blogger Alexei Sukonkin said Durov's arrest “raises a number of issues that need to be addressed immediately.”
“Because Telegram is currently … the basis of military communications,” he wrote. “From now on, all of this is under threat. Isn't this August the greatest tragedy?”
The Russian Telegram channel Rybar, founded by Mikhail Zvinchuk, a former employee of the Russian Ministry of Defense, also pointed out that Telegram “has now become almost the main means of controlling units in the [Ukraine war] Zone.”
“It would be very sad and at the same time funny if the catalyst for change in the approaches to communication and control in the [Russian] “The main reason for the military's decision is the arrest of Pavel Durov,” the broadcaster said. “And not the purely military problems that have accumulated over the course of two years and which the relevant department for some reason preferred to look the other way.”
Russian newspapers published on Monday also addressed the future of Telegram, publishing articles asking: “If Telegram crashes, how will [our army] Fight?” As well as suggestions that Telegram “could become a tool of NATO.”
Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov declined to comment on the matter during a press conference on Monday, state news agency Tass reported.
“We do not yet know what exactly Durov is accused of. We have not yet heard any official statements on the matter,” Peskov said. “Without them, it would be wrong to make any statements.”
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