Durov, a Russian-born French-Emirati citizen, was arrested late Saturday night and remains detained as part of an investigation into allegations of child pornography, drug trafficking and organized crime on the messaging platform Telegram, the Paris prosecutor’s office said.
French President Emmanuel Macron said on Monday that Durov’s arrest was “in no way a political decision.”
Peskov added that Russia hopes that “Mr Durov will be given all the necessary opportunities for his defense. Given his Russian citizenship, we are, of course, ready to provide him with all the necessary assistance and support. However, the situation is complicated by the fact that he is also a French citizen.”
The United Arab Emirates had previously asked the French government for consular access to Durov. The Telegram CEO can be held in police custody in Paris until August 28.
Peskov also denied reports that the Kremlin had ordered its officials to delete their Telegram chat histories after Durov’s arrest, saying that they were not expected to use messenger apps for official purposes anyway.
“Deleting communications is complete nonsense. Officials should not use messengers for official purposes. No messenger is reliable in terms of information security – not even Telegram. (…) Therefore, of course, no one is demanding that anyone delete anything,” Peskov said.
Telegram has nearly a billion users worldwide and is an important means of communication for political dissidents, gangsters and criminals – and on the battlefields of eastern Ukraine.
