Some people just have a knack for making headlines . . . even when they’re not trying.

Of course, when you’re the Russian-born, exiled, billionaire head of Telegram messaging service, and you’ve really pissed off Vladimir Putin, it’s not hard to find yourself in the middle of a controversy.

It was bad enough when Durov’s first messaging service — Russia’s VKontakte, or VK — refused to turn over to the Kremlin personal data on his company’s customers. That decision cost him his company and his homeland. Since fleeing Russian “justice” in 2014, he has acquired citizenship in both France and the United Arab Emirates, and turned his talents to creating and running Telegram, where he continues to protect the privacy of his clients — even those who may be suspected of criminal activity.

Ironically, Telegram is widely used in Russia, where the government itself utilizes its services while attempting to restrict its accessibility to the general population.

But Russia is not the only country to have discovered the advantages of Telegram’s encrypted messaging services; Ukraine’s intelligence agencies have apparently been similarly engaged. And now Russia’s FSB — successor to the KGB — has determined that this is sufficient cause to designate Pavel Durov an extremist, charging him with “aiding terrorism,” and saying that his company failed to take down “channels, chats and bots [used by] Ukrainian special services and by terrorist and extremist organisations” in preparing and coordinating its highly successful attacks on Russian territory. [Reuters, July 29, 2026.]

The Russian government has gone so far as to issue an international arrest warrant for him . . . though it is unclear what mechanism they propose to use in order to execute such a warrant.

But I hardly think Durov — who currently spends most of his time in Dubai — is particularly worried about Vladimir Putin. In response to the news of the warrant, he posted this lovely image on social media:

Pavel Durov now joins the growing ranks of political opponents, dissidents, journalists, and others who have dared to cross Putin — many of whom have paid dearly for their principles. It’s a dubious distinction, but one that should come as no surprise to anyone.

Just sayin’ . . .

Brendochka
8/1/26