French President Emmanuel Macron on Monday denied that the arrest in France of Pavel Durov, one of the founders of the digital platform Telegram, was the result of a political decision.
Pavel Durov, a Russian-French citizen, was arrested Saturday night after landing at an airport near Paris following an investigation that pointed to the instant messaging platform’s alleged collusion in crimes ranging from fraud to drug trafficking, including cyberstalking, organized crime and terrorism.
“It is the judiciary, with its full independence, that must ensure that the law is respected,” Macron wrote on the social network X (formerly Twitter), ensuring that France protects freedom of expression and encourages “entrepreneurial spirit.”
However, he added that “both on social media and in real life, freedoms must be exercised within the limits established by law to protect citizens and respect fundamental rights.”
Telegram is guaranteed to comply with European laws on Sunday.
The Kremlin (the Russian presidency) considered it “inappropriate” to comment on the arrest of the Telegram founder and denied the fact of Durov’s recent meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin.
Presidential press secretary Dmitry Peskov told reporters that Moscow does not yet know the specific accusations.
“We should wait until the situation becomes clearer before we say anything. Without that, it would probably be inappropriate to make any statements,” he replied.
Pavel Durov, a 39-year-old multimillionaire with dual French and Russian citizenship, was detained on Saturday at Bourges airport north of Paris after arriving from Baku, Azerbaijan, a source told the France Presse news agency.
Putin was in Baku early last week and asked about the coincidence on Monday, a Kremlin spokesman said Durov and Putin had not met.
Telegram also denied days before his arrest that its founder had traveled specifically to Azerbaijan last week to meet with Putin while he was on an official trip.
According to the Azerbaijani press, Durov spent three weeks on vacation on the Caspian coast and then went to France.
The arrest of Durov, who was born in St Petersburg and has lived in Dubai since 2017, has sparked outrage among Russian politicians, who protested outside the French embassy in Moscow, claiming Durov was being persecuted for refusing to bow to Western pressure.
Some media outlets recalled that Russian authorities tried to block Telegram in 2018 but failed, and also highlighted how the Kremlin pressured Durov to sell VKontakte, Russia’s Facebook, which led to the creation of Telegram in 2013 and Durov’s subsequent ouster.
On Sunday night, the pre-trial detention of the founder of the digital platform Telegram was extended.
According to a source close to the case, the Parisian investigating judge in charge of the trial, focusing in particular on the actions committed by the organised group, extended the period of preventive detention, which can last a maximum of 96 hours.
After this period, Pavel Durov may be released or presented to a justice of the peace for possible formal charges.