Durov left Russia in 2014, after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on another social media platform.
The CEO and co-founder of the messaging app Telegram, Pavel Durov, has been in custody in France since the night of Aug. 24, sparking a political and diplomatic dispute.
On Aug. 27, the Paris prosecutor said Durov would remain in custody for another 48 hours.
Who Is Pavel Durov?
At 8 p.m. on Aug. 24, after his private jet flew in from Azerbaijan and touched down at Le Bourget Airport near Paris, Durov was arrested by the French police and taken into custody.
The 39-year-old co-founded Telegram in 2013 with his brother Nikolai, an encryption expert, and Forbes estimates that he is worth $15.5 billion.
Born in Russia to wealthy parents, he spent much of his childhood in Italy and has French and Russian passports as well as citizenship in the United Arab Emirates and the Caribbean island nation of Saint Kitts and Nevis.
On Aug. 26, Telegram posted a statement saying Durov “has nothing to hide and travels frequently in Europe.”
When he arrived in Paris, he was traveling with his girlfriend, Juli Vavilova, 24, a gamer and “crypto coach” based in Dubai.
The Moscow Times, an independent media outlet based in the Netherlands, reported, “Kremlin-linked Telegram news channels claimed that Durov sought a meeting with Putin during the Russian leader’s state visit to Azerbaijan on Aug. 18–19, but Putin allegedly turned him down.”
Durov left Russia in 2014, after he refused to comply with demands to shut down opposition communities on another social media platform, VKontakte (VK), which he later sold.
“I would rather be free than to take orders from anyone,” he said earlier this year.
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