It’s an old saying, but — like most aphorisms — it’s still around because there is truth in it.

The “friend” in this case is our old standby, Russia . . . and, by extension, Vladimir Putin himself. And the recipient of Putin’s new concern for a man he once forced out of Russia for refusing to play nicely? None other than the world’s latest international sex symbol: Pavel Durov.

Durov, the CEO of controversial messaging app Telegram, was — while still living in his native Russia — the originator of the Facebook-like media outlet VKontakte (VK). When the Russian government “requested” that Durov hand over confidential information on some of his subscribers, he refused, saying that it would be a violation of their right to privacy.

Well, you can imagine how that went down with Putin and his cohorts. So Durov left Russia, obtained both French and UAE citizenships, and reinvented himself as creator, developer and CEO of Telegram. At 39, he is now a billionaire, living primarily in Dubai and traveling just about everywhere (presumably excluding Russia).

And — in one of life’s incredible ironies — he now finds himself in trouble in France, for the very same reason he once had to flee Russia. In connection with investigations into various criminal activities, the French government has asked Durov for confidential information concerning Telegram’s clients. And again — on the same grounds — Durov said, basically, “not in this lifetime.” Which got him arrested.

*. *. *

Now, we all know what long memories and short tempers Russian leaders are historically known for, Vladimir Putin being no exception. Under the circumstances, this would seem to be a perfect opportunity for him to try to get his claws into Durov once again in order to obtain what he laughingly calls “justice.” But that hasn’t happened.

Instead, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov (he’s back!) said on Thursday that the case against Durov should “not turn into political persecution.” Speaking to the press, he added:

“We know that the president of France [Emmanuel Macron] has denied any connection with politics, but on the other hand, certain accusations are being made. We will see what happens next.” [Alexander Marrow and Mark Trevelyan, Reuters, August 29, 2024.]

And on another track:

Despite an absence of evidence, as well as denials by the Paris prosecutor’s office, some lawmakers in Moscow have alleged that the entire case against Durov has been orchestrated by Washington. [Id.] Leonid Slutsky, leader of a pro-Kremlin party in Parliament, wrote (ironically, on Telegram): “Pavel Durov remains a hostage of the ‘dictatorship of democracy’ of the collective West.” [Id.]

And there you have it: Putin’s Perfect Propaganda Ploy.

Once again, it’s all America’s doing. Despite our insistence on upholding the rights guaranteed us in our Constitution — free speech among the most valued of them — he says it is more important to us to undermine Russia at every opportunity. Therefore, we have somehow engineered the arrest and prosecution of Durov — and by the way, a big shout-out to France for their stunning cooperation in that little effort — in order to . . . what?

Why, presumably to be able to mine information from Telegram on Russia’s use of that very app, of course — particularly in connection with military communications.

(Although admittedly we (the West) would love to be privy to those details, certainly there are easier and more secure ways of obtaining it. Isn’t that what the intelligence folks are for?)

Ksenia Ermoshina, a researcher at Citizen Lab at the University of Toronto and at the Center for Internet and Society at French institute CNRS, has said:

“Telegram has become a tool for Russian defence to communicate internally. If Durov is accused by the French government and he is in the hands of French justice, they are afraid that he might give access to his servers and, because there is no internal encryption by default in Telegram, this will enable potential access to sensitive information from the Russian army.” [Id.]

Well, no wonder Putin wants to be Durov’s new BFF! He’s shaking in his little Russian boots, and it’s obviously in his best interest to help Durov out of his legal quagmire.

As usual, Shakespeare said it better than anyone else ever could (in The Tempest):

“Misery acquaints a man with strange bedfellows.”

We often paraphrase that as “Politics makes strange bedfellows.” Either way, it’s too often true. It certainly is in this case.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
9/1/24