The arrest and charging by France of Telegram founder Pavel Durov has thrown a spotlight on the international connections of a man with at least four passports and high-level contacts but who has also aroused the attention of security agencies around the world.
Born in 1984 under the USSR into a family of academics in Leningrad, now known as Saint Petersburg, Durov spent his childhood in Italy before his family returned to Russia when the Soviet Union fell.
He stopped living in Russia a decade ago as he set up the Telegram messenger, picking up the citizenship of the Caribbean archipelago of Saint Kitts and Nevis as he sought a base.
Finally basing his company in Dubai, he was given Emirati citizenship in 2021 and in the same year, via a special procedure that remains shrouded in secrecy, French nationality.
Here AFP looks at Durov’s key relationships with world powers.
Durov says he left Russia in 2014, accusing Kremlin allies of seizing ownership of his first social network, the Russian-language VKontakte, after he refused to hand over data of users involved in 2011-2012 protests in Russia and then 2013-2014 demonstrations in Ukraine.
He was regarded by many at the time as a dissident. The Russian authorities in later years sought to block Telegram but unsuccessfully, and the app is seen as a key tool for the military in the invasion of Ukraine.
Speaking to US right-wing talk show host Tucker Carlson in an interview in April, Durov said only people with “very limited knowledge of where Telegram came from” could claim it was an instrument of the Russian government.
But Moscow has in no way disowned Durov during his current legal problems, with Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov warning France against turning the case into “political persecution”.
According to the Vazhnye Istorii news site, citing leaked border data, his departure from Russia was anything but an abrupt exile and he visited the country more than 50 times between 2015 and 2021.
Media have repeatedly noted that Durov’s reception when he was arrested on arrival at Paris Le Bourget airport Saturday was in stark contrast to previous visits.
Le Monde newspaper reported Wednesday that Durov had met President Emmanuel Macron on several occasions prior to receiving French nationality in 2021, via a special procedure reserved for those deemed to have made a special contribution to France.
A source close to the case, who asked not to be named, told AFP on Thursday that after his arrest Durov requested that French telecoms tycoon Xavier Niel, chairman and founder of the Iliad mobile operator and seen as close to Macron, be informed of his arrest.
Durov has said his name in his French passport is written as Paul du Rove, a humorous French translation. His personal Telegram channel is called “Du Rove’s Channel”.
Another source close to the investigation said Durov had emphasised his links to the French head of state during questioning.
Both Pavel Durov and his elder brother Nikolai, a lower-profile figure seen as the mathematical brain behind Telegram, have been wanted by France since March this year.
Durov says he chose to base Telegram in Dubai after finding the UAE offered a far better business climate than European cities, allowing the company to hire the best people, enjoy a tax-efficient regime and the city’s infrastructure.
“We tried several places. We first went to Berlin… We tried London, Singapore. San Francisco. You name it — we have been everywhere,” Durov told Carlson.
“The bureaucratic hurdles were too difficult to overcome,” whereas the UAE “turned out to be a great place”, he said, lauding the state as “a neutral place… not aligned geopolitically”.
There is no indication Durov ever sought US citizenship but his interview with Carlson threw up some interesting — if unconfirmed — insights about his relationship with the country.
He said that at one point he thought San Francisco “would be the place for us” but he was then attacked by “three big guys” who tried to grab his phone while he was tweeting about meeting then Twitter chief Jack Dorsey.
Durov claimed to have come out the better in the altercation. “There was a short fight and a bit of blood involved.”
He also said US security agencies gave him “too much attention” whenever he visited, complaining that two FBI agents would always meet him at the airport asking questions.
