Russia has added Pavel Durov, the founder and owner of the Telegram messaging platform, to its list of terrorists and extremists. In response, Durov changed his profile picture to a meme portraying himself as a terrorist. The ironic gesture underscored the long-standing—and, to put it mildly, deeply strained—relationship between him and the Russian authorities.
From Hatred...
A few years ago, in an interview with Tucker Carlson, Durov explained that he had left Russia because of pressure from the country's security services:
"...In 2013, there were protests in Ukraine, where people used the VKontakte social network" (which Durov founded. — Ed.) "to organize themselves, gather in the central square, and express their disagreement with the government. We received a request—really, a demand—from the Russian authorities saying, 'You must provide us with the personal data of the organizers of these protests.' Our response was that this was another country. We would not betray our Ukrainian users."
Afterward, Durov sold his stake in VKontakte and left Russia.
