Russian President Vladimir Putin did not meet with the arrested CEO of the messaging application Telegram, Pavel Durov, whose company is registered in Britain, during his visit to Azerbaijan earlier this month, the Kremlin reported on Monday. Kremlin press secretary Dmitry Peskov stated this to the media on Monday upon commenting on the arrest of Durov, who was detained on Saturday when disembarking in France from Azerbaijan on a private aircraft at Charles de Gaulle Airport.
He, however, declined to comment on the controversial arrest. "We do not know what he is being accused of. We have not heard any official statement on the issue. We have to wait for the situation to clear up before we say anything," he said.
The speaker also refuted the media reports that Durov had had a meeting with President Putin when the latter came to Baku on August 18 and 19. After that, a few media reported that the two were visiting the city at the same time and even insinuated a behind the scene meeting.
The French government did not outline the charges accompanying the arrest of the Russian tech mogul, who is also a citizen of France, the UAE, and the Caribbean island nation of St Kitts and Nevis. Multiple reports claim he was charged for several crimes that were associated with the alleged spread of criminal activity on Telegram.
Messaging encrypted platform has denied any wrongdoing on the part of Durov, saying it will be "absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for the abuse of that platform."
It said it abides by the EU laws including the Digital Services Act.
With about 900 million active users, it has, in a significant amount, been a source of information concerning the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. In a rare interview in April with the US political commentator Tucker Carlson, Durov said that Telegram's goal was a neutral platform refusing moderation at the request of the governments of countries.
Opinion leaders in the West, as well as Russia, like Elon Musk, decried the development as an assault on free speech, and went further to suggest that the arrest was perpetrated by the US.
