Russia Calls Telegram Boss Durov A Victim Of Its Own Independence

Pavel Durov. (Wikimedia Commons/TechCrunch/Schreibvieh)

JAKARTA - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Monday, Pavel Durov, the arrested Telegram boss in France, was "too free" to run the social media platform and this was his destruction.

A French judge put Durov, who was born in Russia under formal investigation last week, into alleged involvement in running an online platform that allows illicit transactions, images of child sexual abuse, drug trafficking and fraud.

His lawyer said it "no sense" to say he should be responsible for any crimes committed in the app, which has nearly 1 billion users.

Foreign Minister Lavrov, in a speech to students at Moscow's MGIMO University managed by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, echoed the Kremlin's position that the investigation into Durov was part of a greater political tactic by the West to use power over Russia.

"Pavel Durov is too free," Foreign Minister Lavrov said.

"He didn't listen to Western advice to moderate his ideas," he continued.

Russia itself, after years of pressureing Durov and his tech venture, has supported him.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said last week there were no negotiations between the Kremlin and Durov, which also hold passports from France and the United Arab Emirates.

"The most important thing is, what happened in France has not turned out to be political persecution," Peskov said last Thursday.

"We know that the French president has denied any (case) relationship with politics, but on the other hand, certain accusations are being made," he explained.

French President Emmanuel Macron has denied any political motives in the detention of the tech entrepreneur.

Foreign Minister Lavrov himself previously warned that Durov's arrest - the first of a major technology CEO - had brought down relations between Moscow and Paris to new nadir points.