The conspiracy factory was set in motion after the surprise arrest of Pavel Durov sparked outrage among free speech advocates, who accused France of trying to censor the Telegram messaging platform.
Since its launch in 2013, Telegram has become a tool for political dissidents, battlefield generals and gangsters, with the platform reportedly amassing nearly one billion users.
Durov was released from custody on bail of 5 million euros on Wednesday after being formally investigated on six charges, including refusing to cooperate with law enforcement authorities and complicity in running an online platform "allowing the execution of an illegal transaction in an organized group ".
The investigation was prompted by Telegram's unwillingness to cooperate in a child abuse case, Politico exclusively reported, resulting in warrants being issued against Durov and his brother Nikolai Durov, the platform's co-founder.
Although French President Emmanuel Macron stressed that the case was "in no way political", the unprecedented arrest raised a host of questions surrounding the tech mogul and his ties to Paris and Moscow.
While the average French person may not be familiar with Telegram, the app boasts at least one avid user in France - its president.
Macron has used the app since the early days of his first presidential campaign almost ten years ago and continues to do so - although members of his cabinet were formally asked to stop using the platform last year.
Durov met with the French president at least once in 2018, a person close to Macron told Politico. The closed-door meeting was not publicized at the time. The two have met "many times" since Macron first became president, according to Le Monde.
Macron has long pushed for France to become home to big tech companies. "France will be a leading nation of hyper-innovation, change and deep transformation," Macron declared a month after his 2017 election.
The president is trying to convince Durov to move Telegram to Paris and offers him French citizenship, the Wall Street Journal reports. Although Durov already has French citizenship, Telegram is currently headquartered in Dubai.
According to the French satirical weekly Le Canard enchaîné, when Durov was arrested at Le Bourget airport on Saturday night, he told police he was in Paris to have dinner with Macron. Macron categorically denied inviting him. "I knew absolutely nothing about Mr. Durov's visit to France," he said during his visit to Serbia.
A source close to Macron stressed that the French president was at his private holiday home in northern France that day.
This is not Durov's first bad joke at the expense of the French authorities. In April 2023, the billionaire changed his legal name on his French passport to "Paul du Rove", a French adaptation of Pavel Durov - as recorded in the country's State Gazette.
The founder of Telegram, who was born in Russia, will receive French citizenship in 2021 through a procedure normally reserved for "a French-speaking foreigner who, through his exceptional work, contributes to the influence of France and to the prosperity of its international economic relations."
He's not the only tech mogul to have gone down this path. American Snapchat CEO Spiegel, who speaks a little French, also got citizenship in 2018.
"This is a decision we took in 2018 and one that I fully support," Macron said on August 29. He added that it was "part of the strategy to enable women and men, when they are artists, sportsmen, entrepreneurs, when they make an effort to learn the language, when they create wealth, when they ask for it, to be given French citizenship." I did it for Mr. Durov, who took the trouble to learn French, as I did for Spiegel. I think this is good for our country."
However, it remains unclear how Durov contributed to French influence.
The French presidency initially refused to take responsibility for the citizenship grant, telling Politico that the decision was made by the French foreign ministry.
Durov is also a citizen of the United Arab Emirates, where he lives and runs Telegram. Abu Dhabi requested consular access to the CEO after his arrest - but the tech mogul rejected the offer of help, according to a person close to him. "We are in contact with the French authorities on this case and with representatives of Pavel Durov," a representative of the UAE diplomatic service told Politico.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov confirmed Durov's Russian citizenship, adding that he did not know how many other citizenships he had, as reported by the Russian news agency TASS.
Durov also obtained citizenship of the Caribbean island nation of St. Kitts and Nevis through an "investment" program in which passports are issued through large financial contributions. Reached by Politico, the country's ambassador in Paris confirmed Durov's citizenship but stressed that his ties to St. Kitts and Nevis are limited. Durov did not seek the country's consular services.
Durov's departure from Russia in 2014 was linked to tensions in his relations with the Kremlin. Before starting Telegram, he founded a social media platform called VKontakte and allegedly refused to hand over the contact information of Ukrainian pro-democracy activists during the Euromaidan movement that year.
However, Moscow tried to intervene after his arrest, saying it had offered "all the necessary help and support" to Durov and accusing France of intimidation and a "direct attempt to restrict freedom of communication".
Although Durov portrays himself as an opponent of the Kremlin, the reality appears to be more complicated. Even after leaving Russia and selling his stake in VKontakte, Durov is said to maintain ties to the country. Alisher Usmanov, an oligarch close to Putin, reportedly helped fund Telegram in its early stages. Initially, Telegram worked in the same Singer House office in St. Petersburg as VKontakte.
Pro-Kremlin media reports that Durov's brother Nikolai, who is also wanted by France, lives in St. Petersburg, where he works at the Steklov Mathematical Institute of the prestigious Russian Academy of Sciences. On the institute's website, Nikolay Durov is listed as an employee.
Despite Nikolai's widely publicized contribution to Telegram's success, he has always stayed out of the limelight, leaving that role to his younger brother. According to Telegram, Pavel supports the app "financially and ideologically, while Nikolay's contribution is technological."
According to a report by Important Stories based on Russian intelligence leaks, Durov visited Russia "more than 50 times" between 2015 and 2021. Telegram is widely used by the Russian military for battlefield communication, by pro-military military bloggers and journalists, and by millions of ordinary Russians and political officials.
In Russian opposition circles, Telegram has a mixed reputation. On the one hand, it provides secure communication, protected from the prying eyes of the FSB, and is an alternative platform for independent media blocked by the Russian authorities online. On the other hand, there are a number of cases where channels or initiatives that might worry the Kremlin have been blocked or otherwise impeded by the platform.
The Ukrainian military largely uses the Signal platform for its communications, but most government agencies also have Telegram channels, and the app is also widely used for private messages and blogs by Ukrainian soldiers and civilians. | BGNES
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Victor Gorey-Lafont, Politico
