MOSCOW: Pavel Durov, the Telegram director arrested in France, was” to free” in his view to running the social media platform, and this was his downfall, Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday.
Russian-born Durov was the subject of a proper investigation last week by a French judge for possible collusion in operating an online platform that facilitates child sex abuse, drug trafficking, and scams.
His attorney has called it “absurd” to indicate that he should be held accountable for any atrocities committed on the game, which has nearly 1 billion customers and is commonly used in Russia, Ukraine, and other former Soviet Union nations.
In a statement to kids at Moscow’s wealthy MGIMO school, which is run by the foreign ministry, Lavrov echoed the Kremlin’s claim that the investigation into Durov is a part of a larger social plot by the West to rule over Russia.
” Pavel Durov was very free”, Lavrov said. ” He did n’t listen to Western advice on moderating his brainchild”.
Russia, after decades of stress on Durov and his software projects, has rallied behind him.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesman for the Kremlin, claimed last week that Durov, who likewise holds documents from France and the United Arab Emirates, had not been engaged in negotiations.
” The main thing is that what is happening in France does not convert into political persecution”, Peskov said next Thursday.
” We know that the president of France has denied any connection ( of the case ) with politics, but on the other hand, certain accusations are being made”.
European President Emmanuel Macron has denied any political cause in the technology investor’s confinement.
Lavrov had previously expressed concern that Durov’s arrest, the first for a significant tech CEO, had deteriorated ties between Moscow and Paris.
