Mysteries overshadow the arrest of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov

The arrest of Pavel Durov, considered the "Russian Zuckerberg" with many different nationalities in France on August 24 by French authorities, has attracted great public attention with many mysteries and thrilling speculations...

The arrest of Telegram boss Pavel Durov has sparked much speculation. (Source: Fortune)

Political factors

The arrest of Telegram app owner Pavel Durov on June 24 at Paris-Le Bourget airport when his private plane from Azerbaijan landed in Paris immediately sparked much speculation about the motives and reasons...

According to a press release from the Paris Prosecutor's Office on August 26, Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov has been arrested by French authorities in a criminal investigation.

Accordingly, the 39-year-old Russian businessman was charged with 12 crimes, including facilitating drug crimes, money laundering, organized crime, and aiding the spread of child pornography. In addition, this businessman is also being investigated for refusing to cooperate with investigations into cybercrime and financial crimes.

However, this incident has raised many speculations and mysteries. The incident clearly shows the importance of the Telegram project and the role of Pavel Durov, the owner of the Telegram messaging application which is very popular because of its "absolute" personal information security.

Pavel Durov is the person who holds the encryption keys to secure Telegram's information. However, despite pressure from many forces, Durov has repeatedly stated that he will not give them to anyone. Although the French prosecutor's office has given the reason for Durov's arrest and initially charged him with 12 crimes, many observers believe that the arrest of the Telegram boss is related to political factors. Therefore, the case can only be resolved through political agreements.

But whatever the reason for the arrest, it will have immediate repercussions for the app's nearly 1 billion users.

After the arrest, and especially after the statement of the Paris Prosecutor's Office, Moscow had initial strong reactions but so far Russian diplomats have not been able to reach Durov.

Why France?

According to the media, Pavel Durov owns 3 passports. In addition to his Russian passport, Mr. Durov also has citizenship of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) - one of the most difficult countries to obtain citizenship, citizenship of Saint Kitts and Nevis (a Caribbean country and member of the British Commonwealth) and French citizenship. Billionaire Durov only received French citizenship in 2021.

The circumstances of Mr. Durov’s arrest on August 24 are also very mysterious. According to French media, at around 20:00 local time, Durov’s private jet landed in Paris at Le Bourget airport. As soon as he landed, the Russian billionaire was arrested under an arrest warrant, which according to some sources had been issued a year ago.

One of the top investigators in the case told Le Figaro that Durov knew about the order but decided to come to France anyway. The newspaper, citing unnamed sources, suggested that the billionaire probably thought he would not be punished. That is a strange assumption.

According to Le Figaro , Durov was arrested due to the lack of censorship on Telegram. Durov's Telegram is a favorite of criminals - from drug dealers to child pornographers - because of the information and data security claims "better than banking security" that the Telegram boss himself has repeatedly made. Therefore, it seems that the Telegram owner's refusal to censor content is considered complicity in criminal acts. That is, this is a crime that requires jail time (at least during the time of detention).

But the question is, why did Pavel Durov, knowing that he could be arrested and sentenced to prison, still eagerly go to France to be arrested and put in a French prison?

Another mystery concerns the young billionaire’s route. Pavel Durov flew to France from Azerbaijan, not from Dubai, where he lives as a citizen. Many questions remain as to what he was doing in Baku and why he flew directly from there to Paris.

All theories about Durov's arrest - other than the version put forward by anonymous French security personnel in the media - essentially boil down to the speculation that the Telegram founder was arrested to obtain the encryption keys.

Access to information exchanged within the Telegram application could be of interest to authorities in many countries, including France. However, Telegram's boss, a man known for his eccentric lifestyle, stubbornly refused to reveal this information.

Even the threat of blocking Telegram in Russia has never scared him. In 2015, shortly after leaving the Russian Federation, Durov affirmed: “Telegram has not and will not provide personal data and encryption keys to third parties. Telegram is very popular with tens of millions of users in dozens of markets, and the threat of blocking one or two markets will not affect Telegram’s privacy policy.”

Reason for arrest

According to observers, France's political accusations against Telegram stem from a number of reasons.

First, Telegram is actively used by those involved in the military operation in Ukraine. As a member state of the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) and one of Ukraine's key allies, France cannot ignore this.

Second, the French authorities were also forced to deal with Durov's app due to pressure (including from outside) since 2021, when the billionaire received French citizenship. That year, the German Justice Ministry opened two cases against Telegram over the content on the app. The head of the German Interior Ministry, Nancy Feser, said Telegram had refused to cooperate with the German government. Complaints about Telegram have come from many European organizations. For example, shortly before Durov's arrest, the French Professional Football League announced its dissatisfaction with Telegram's unauthorized broadcasting of football matches in the country's championship.

Third, Durov’s arrest may be linked to Azerbaijani-French relations. France actively supports Armenia, while Azerbaijan is accused by Paris of supporting separatists in New Caledonia. In this context, a clear connection can be drawn between Durov’s visit to Baku and his arrest by French law enforcement agencies.

The Russian website ng.ru commented that whatever this event is, it opens a new page in the history of relations between the state and Internet-related entrepreneurs. There has never been a case where the creator of such a popular social networking platform was arrested for his professional activities. Not surprisingly, among Durov's supporters is the owner of social network X, billionaire Elon Musk, a social network that also has a lot of users besides Zuckerberg's Facebook...

Source: https://baoquocte.vn/nhung-bi-an-phu-bong-vu-bat-giu-ceo-telegram-pavel-durov-284295.html