Telegram founder's arrest will not have immediate effect on Ukraine war - Sarts

RIGA - The detention of Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram messaging app, will not have an immediate effect on the war in Ukraine, Janis Sarts, Director of the Riga-based NATO Strategic Communication Center of Excellence (StratCom CoE), told LETA. 

In the near-term, at least as long there is no clarity about the arrest's effect, Russia will be using Telegram as a platform for its influence operations less frequently or more cautiously, Sarts projected. 

As for more far-reaching consequences, Sarts said that Durov is just one person but that the existing Telegram infrastructure and staff remain in place. 

"We see that Russia has reacted quite clearly, which once again underscores that Telegram is a compromised platform where the Russian government has certain say and influence," said Sarts. 

The StratCom CoE director believes that Russia will now try to assess the effects and whether Durov's arrest might undermine Russian operations on Telegram. "If they conclude that it poses a threat, they will probably try to scale down their activities. If they see that there is no threat, we will see them return on this platform with all their exiting methods," said Sarts. 

He added that it was hard to tell why the French authorities chose to detain Durov, but undeniably, Telegram has been used for all sorts of unlawful activities. 

At the same time, Sarts believes that Durov's arrest might also be related to France's other interests. Furthermore, there have been speculations that Durov knew he was wanted and deliberately left for France.

Asked if there is a risk of Telegram ending up completely in the Kremlin's control, Sarts said: "Judging by the way the Kremlin has reacted, it doesn't look like it, but it can't be ruled out."

Durov was detained at Paris-Le Bourget Airport last Saturday after arriving by private jet from Baku, the capital of Azerbaijan. Durov was detained by the Air Transport Gendarmerie because he is on France's wanted list.

TF1 reports that Durov might face criminal charges in France for doing nothing to prevent the platform being used to commit crimes like terrorism, drug trafficking, fraud, money laundering, sale of stolen goods and sexual abuse of children. The French law enforcement authorities maintain that Durov is complicit in these crimes as he has refused to moderate the platform's content.