Telegram, Durov's detention extended until Wednesday. Volodin: 'The US behind the arrest'

The police custody of Telegram founder Pavel Durov for twelve organised crime-related offences has been extended until Wednesday, AFP was told on Monday by a source close to the case. The 39-year-old Franco-Russian billionaire was arrested Saturday night at Le Bourget airport and taken into custody. The judiciary accuses Durov of failing to take action against the criminal use of his messaging service by its subscribers, in particular for a lack of moderation and cooperation with investigators. The president of the Duma, Viaceslav Volodin, accused the US of being 'behind the arrest' of the Telegram patron. This was reported by the Interfax news agency. "In fact, Washington is behind Durov's arrest. On the eve of the US presidential elections, it is important for Biden to take control of Telegram,' said the chairman of the lower branch of the Russian parliament without providing evidence to support his words.

Durov was stopped on Saturday evening at around 8pm as he stepped off his private plane onto the runway of Paris's Le Bourget airport. This was stated by the French TV channel Tf1. Durov, 39, a French-Russian citizen, was accompanied by his bodyguard and a woman. The detention was carried out by the Gta (Air Transport Gendarmerie) gendarmes. Included in the wanted persons file, Pavel Durov came from Azerbaijan. A French 'search warrant', issued on the basis of a preliminary investigation, hangs over him.

According to Tf1 and Lci, Pavel Durov was remanded in custody on Saturday night on the basis of a warrant issued by the French justice system, which considers that the absence of moderation, cooperation with the police, and the tools offered by Telegram (disposable number, cryptocurrency, etc.) make him an accomplice in drug trafficking, crimes against minors, and fraud. The warrant was only valid for French territory. Investigators from the Onaf (National Anti-Fraud Office dependent on customs) informed him and placed him in police custody. He is due to be brought before the investigating judge in the next few hours before a possible indictment on Sunday for a multitude of offences: 'Terrorism, drugs, complicity, fraud, money laundering, receiving stolen goods, juvenile criminal content', says Tf1, a source of which says that 'Durov will definitely be placed in provisional detention'.

The head of Russia's foreign intelligence services, Serghei Naryshkin, said he does not expect Pavel Durov, the founder and head of Telegram, to agree to provide sensitive information for Moscow to Western countries after his arrest in Paris. "I expect he will not," Naryshkin said in response to a question on the matter. This was reported by the Tass news agency.

Putin's spokesman Dmitri Peskov said that if there was no 'serious' evidence for the arrest of Telegram patron Pavel Durov in France, it would be a 'political case'. Tass reports. "The charges are indeed very serious and require equally serious evidence, otherwise it will be a direct attempt to restrict freedom of communication and, one could even say, a direct intimidation of the head of a large company. That is, it will be exactly a political issue, which was denied by Mr Macron yesterday in this story,' Peskov said.