Paris:

Relations between Moscow and Paris have reached a nadir following the arrest of Russian-born Telegram boss Pavel Durov, Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Tuesday, after the tech billionaire’s detention was extended until Wednesday.

Durov, who has French as well as Russian nationality, was arrested near Paris over the weekend as part of an investigation into crimes related to images of child sex abuse, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions on the platform, French prosecutors said on Monday.

It remains unclear if he knew about the threat of arrest in France. Durov’s French lawyer did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Durov’s arrest has plunged Moscow-Paris ties to their lowest level, Lavrov said on Tuesday, capping months of deteriorating relations between the two nations.

French authorities accused Russia of trying to destabilise it ahead of the Paris Olympics in response to its more hawkish stance on the Ukraine war – claims Russia has denied.

Durov’s detention was extended by 48 hours late on Monday, a spokesperson for the Paris prosecutor’s office said on Tuesday. After that, prosecutors will either need to charge or release him. Should he face charges, his flight risk status is a factor judges have to include in their assessment of possible pretrial detention, according to French law.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call on Tuesday that Russia was ready to provide Durov with all necessary assistance given his Russian citizenship, but that his French citizenship complicated the situation. Durov also holds a UAE passport.

“The charges are very serious indeed,” said Peskov. “They require a no less serious basis of evidence. Otherwise they will be a direct attempt to limit freedom of communication.”

FREE SPEECH DEBATE

Durov’s arrest has sparked a debate about the limits of free speech online, with X-owner Elon Musk saying the right to expression in Europe was under attack. It also underlines a movement by governments around the world to take a tougher line on policing illegal activity that flourishes on some platforms.

Brazil’s supreme court briefly suspended Telegram nationwide in 2022 over its failure to comply with judicial orders.

With close to 1 billion users, Telegram is particularly influential in Russia, Ukraine and the republics of the former Soviet Union. It presents itself as a haven for free speech, but is also widely used by far-right, anti-vax and conspiracist movements, as well as political dissidents.

The platform has become crucial to battlefield communications in the war in Ukraine and is used by governments and soldiers on both sides of the war to share war-related news and propaganda.

Without providing evidence, Vyacheslav Volodin, the chairman of Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, earlier said the United States, through France, was attempting to exert control over Telegram.

“Telegram is one of the few and at the same time the largest Internet platforms over which the United States has no influence,” Volodin said in a post.

“On the eve of the U.S. presidential election, it is important for (President Joe) Biden to take Telegram under control.”

The White House has yet to comment on Durov’s arrest.

French President Emmanuel Macron, who is known to be an avid user of the app, has said that the arrest was “in no way a political decision”.

Russia has previously tried, and failed, to block Telegram and fined the company several times for failing to delete what it deemed illegal content.

(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)

Russia’s Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov attended the 57th ASEAN Foreign Ministers’ Meeting at National Convention Center, in Vientiane, Laos, on July 26, 2024.
| Photo Credit: Reuters

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said on Saturday he “does not listen” to what he called Ukraine’s contradictory statements on peace talks.

Mr. Lavrov spoke after Ukrainian Foreign Minister Dmytro Kuleba visited China for talks this week. President Volodymyr Zelenskyy then said Beijing sent a “clear signal” it supported Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Answering questions from Russian journalists on the sidelines of a meeting of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in the Laos capital, Mr. Lavrov referred dismissively to Mr. Zelensky and Mr. Kuleba’s comments.

Mr. Kuleba, in an interview with Ukraine’s TSN channel Friday about his visit to Beijing, said Kyiv could not be forced to negotiate and that China, which has sought to paint itself as a mediator after Russia’s invasion, respected Ukraine’s territorial integrity.

Mr. Kuleba “is saying this not for the first time and has sometimes said completely opposite things,” Mr. Lavrov said.

“Not long ago they were talking about negotiations. Zelenskyy talked of readiness to finally sit at a table with Russian representatives. I don’t listen to them, to be honest,” he added.

Mr. Lavrov said that during talks with his Chinese counterpart, Wang Yi, in Vientiane, they discussed what was said during Kuleba’s visit and Russians “sensed that the Chinese position remains unchanged”.

Mr. Lavrov said Beijing insists the format of any peace talks must be “acceptable to all sides”.

Mr. Zelenskyy said this month that Russia should be represented at a second peace summit after Russia was not invited to one in June in Switzerland and China did not attend because of this.

Mr. Lavrov also referred to Donald Trump’s possible position on Ukraine if elected U.S. President, after ex-Secretary of State Mike Pompeo wrote about this in a Wall Street Journal article this week.

“About Trump, I’ve heard that he proposed instead of just giving Ukraine money to allocate $500 billion on lend-lease conditions,” Mr. Lavrov said, calling this “the approach of a businessman”.

“I can’t comment on numerous ideas, that aren’t really serious,” he added.

“When there is something serious proposed, of course, as the president said we are always ready for an honest conversation, taking into account the realities that exist now”, the minister said.