No meat, no alcohol, 100 children Who is Pavel Durov and why did he fly to Paris?
He founded the Russian equivalent of Facebook, the messaging service Telegram, and claims to be the biological father of 100 children. Despite an arrest warrant, Pavel Durov flew to Paris on Saturday and is now in prison.
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- The founder of the messenger service Telegram, Pavel Durov, was arrested in Paris on Saturday evening, August 24.
- The multi-billionaire became rich by founding various companies and his own cryptocurrency.
- In addition to Russian citizenship, Durov also has French citizenship.
- Durov recently stated on Telegram that he is the biological father of over 100 children.
- Why Durov flew to Paris, even though there was an arrest warrant out for him, remains a mystery for the time being.
The founder of the messaging service Telegram, Pawel Durow, remains in police custody following his arrest in France, according to media reports. Despite an arrest warrant, he flew to Paris unexpectedly on Saturday evening and was arrested at Le Bourget airport near Paris.
Why the controversial and mysterious multi-billionaire flew from Azerbaijan to France currently remains a mystery. The 39-year-old must have been aware that an arrest warrant had been issued for him. Telegram has long been accused of not taking sufficient action against hate speech and other illegal activities. The Paris public prosecutor's office initially did not wish to comment on the case.
No meat, no alcohol, but 100 children
Born in St. Petersburg, he rose to fame when he developed the social network VKontakte (VK), a Russian equivalent of Facebook. After disputes with the Russian authorities, he sold VK and founded the messenger service Telegram together with his brother.
After Durov refused to provide the Russian secret service FSB with user data in connection with protests against the Kremlin in 2014, he left the country and settled in Dubai years later, where he is said to currently live.
Despite the dispute with the Russian government, Telegram is now being used very actively by the Kremlin as an information medium in the Ukraine war. Durov himself also posts regularly via Telegram. His channel is followed by over eleven million users.
He claims to lead a solitary life and to abstain from things such as meat, alcohol and coffee. At the end of July, he claimed to be the biological father of over 100 children in twelve different countries through sperm donations.
The US business magazine "Forbes" estimates Durow's fortune at over 15 billion US dollars. He has also launched his own cryptocurrency, "Toncoin".
"Strictest silence" about French citizenship
In addition to Russian citizenship, Durov also holds citizenship of the Caribbean archipelago of St. Kitts and Nevis. And since 2021, he has also held French citizenship, which, according to the BritishGuardian, he was granted in an opaque procedure about which the French government is maintaining "the strictest silence".
Nevertheless, prior to his arrest in Paris on Saturday evening, an arrest warrant had been issued for him in connection with preliminary investigations into allegations of fraud, drug trafficking, online bullying, organized crime and promoting terrorism. Durov is accused of not having done enough to prevent the use of his messenger service for criminal purposes.
It is unclear why Durov decided to fly to Paris anyway. He has not yet spoken out on Telegram. In a statement, the company merely wrote that Telegram complies with all applicable rules, including the new DSA digital law, which is intended to ensure a more consistent crackdown on illegal content and activities on large online platforms.
Durov has "nothing to hide" and frequently travels in Europe. Furthermore, it is "absurd" to hold a platform or its owner responsible for the misuse of the service by third parties.
The Russian embassy in France has already taken up the case, according to a statement from the Foreign Ministry in Moscow quoted by the Russian state news agency Tass.
The French authorities have been called upon to allow consular access to Durov, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said. "The only problem is that Durov also has French citizenship," she said. "Accordingly, France will regard him first and foremost as its citizen."
According to the French news agency AFP, the detention can last up to 96 hours. After that, the judge must decide whether to release Durov or open a preliminary investigation.
Sources: The Guardian, dpa, sda, afp, Wikipedia, Telegram
