The FSB says Durov is criminally liable for channels used to coordinate attacks inside Russia, a charge carrying a possible life sentence, months after Telegram took direct control of TON.
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Posted July 30, 2026 at 6:36 am EST.
Russia’s Federal Security Service said Wednesday that it has charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorist activity and placed him on an international wanted list, according to a local report. The charge falls under Part 1.1 of Article 205.1 of the Russian criminal code, according to the report. The charge carries a maximum penalty of life imprisonment.
The FSB reportedly alleged that Telegram has left up numerous channels, chats and bots used by Ukrainian intelligence services and by terrorist and extremist organizations to prepare and coordinate sabotage and attacks inside Russia, along with cyber fraud, causing deaths that included women and children as well as billions of dollars in damage.
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Telegram is one of crypto’s largest distribution layers, hosting project communities, trading groups, bots and blockchain-based Mini Apps. Telegram also took direct operational control of The Open Network in May and became its largest validator. Gram, renamed from Toncoin in June, most recently traded at $1.42, down 6% in the past seven days.
TON supports payments, tokenized assets and Mini Apps inside Telegram, giving the network access to a user base the project puts at more than 1 billion. Earlier this month, Durov said Telegram will roll out a native, non-custodial Gram wallet to every Telegram app.
The charge builds on a longer campaign. Regulators reportedly started restricting Telegram inside Russia in August 2025, and Roskomnadzor said in February that the platform still was not complying with Russian law, so the restrictions would continue. Fines have repprtedly topped 100 million rubles ($1.25 million) this year, imposed mainly for refusing to delete prohibited content.
Durov was separately arrested in France in August 2024 over alleged failure to curb illegal activity on the app, a case that prompted Telegram to revise its moderation policies.
AI-assisted content: This article was produced with the assistance of AI tools and was reviewed, edited, and fact-checked by a member of the Unchained editorial team before publication.
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