Russian Billionaire Pavel Durov, co-founder and CEO of the messaging application Telegram, was arrested at Bourget Airport near Paris, TF1 TV reported.
Durov traveled on board his private plane. The 39-year-old man is believed to have traveled from Azerbaijan and was detained at around 8pm local time.
The Russian-born entrepreneur lives in Dubai, where Telegram is based, and holds dual French and UAE citizenship.
Durov, whose fortune is estimated by Forbes at $15.5 billion, left Russia in 2014 after refusing to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on his VK social platform, which he sold.
The Russian Embassy in France is taking "immediate steps" to clarify the situation.
Citing a representative of the Russian Embassy in France, TASS reported that there had been no appeal from Durov's team to the embassy, but that it was actively taking "immediate" steps.
Durov and his brother Nikolai founded the messaging app in 2013, and it has around 900 million active users.
Telegram offers encrypted messaging, and users can also create "channels" to quickly spread information to followers. | BGNES
