Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) on Wednesday charged Pavel Durov, founder and owner of the messaging app Telegram, with aiding terrorism, and subsequently placed him on an international wanted list.

The FSB accused Telegram of failing to remove “numerous channels, chats and bots” allegedly used by Ukrainian intelligence agencies, terrorist and extremist organizations to “prepare and coordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism, mass murder, and cyberfraud” in Russia. The FSB also alleged that Ukrainian security services used a Telegram dating chatbot to recruit Russian citizens, including minors, for attacks on law enforcement and arson. The FSB said 46 users of the chatbot between the ages of 12 and 22 have been detained across Russia since July 2025 in connection with the alleged scheme, although Russia’s Investigative Committee, in a separate statement on the same chatbot, cited 19 teenagers detained.

Pavel Durov, the Russian-born entrepreneur who now holds French and Emirati citizenship and lives in Dubai, could face up to life in prison if convicted under Article 205.1 of the Russian Criminal Code. Earlier this year, Durov announced that Russian authorities had opened a criminal investigation against him and accused them of fabricating pretexts to restrict access to Telegram in an attempt to “suppress the right to privacy and free speech.” Telegram did not immediately respond to a request for comment Wednesday.

Wednesday’s charges are the latest escalation in Russia’s long-running effort to bring the internet under state control, which has intensified since Moscow launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022. Russia has banned Facebook, Instagram, and X, throttled YouTube, and blocked messaging apps including Signal and Viber. Russia attempted to block Telegram between 2018 and 2020 but failed, and authorities began effectively blocking it again in the summer of 2025.

Rights groups condemned Russia’s Telegram restrictions in February as a blow to freedom of expression and warned of further censorship measures in March. Durov has previously faced criminal scrutiny abroad with French authorities arresting him at Paris’s Le Bourget Airport in August 2024, and he spent four days in pre-trial detention over allegations that Telegram facilitated drug trafficking, child sexual abuse content, promotion of terrorism, and cyberbullying through inadequate content moderation. This designation may complicate international travel if other jurisdictions choose to act on Russia’s request or any future Interpol notice.