President Macron: Pavel Durov's arrest is not political

On Saturday, Pavel Durov, a French national, was arrested at Le Bourget airport outside Paris — accused of failing to act against criminals using the messaging app to commit crimes.

Now French police say Durov remains in custody. He is being investigated by the country’s national cybercrime and fraud units, French police said, according to Reuters, and is said to have broken collaboration to curb cybercrime and financial crime on Telegram.

According to the prosecutor, the investigation primarily deals with crimes related to illegal transactions, pornography and fraud.

Russian State Duma Spokesman Vladislav Davankov said the arrest could be politically motivated and “a means of obtaining personal data from Telegram users.”

But according to French President Macron, there is no such motive, but the arrest is said to be part of a legal investigation.

“On social media, as in real life, freedoms are exercised within the law to protect citizens and respect their fundamental rights,” Macron wrote on Twitter while condemning false information being spread about the arrest.

Pavel Durov, 39 years old He is known as the Russian Mark Zuckerberg (Facebook founder's memoir) and his fortune is estimated at $15.5 billion. He left Russia in 2014, after refusing to cooperate with the Russian authorities. Since 2017, he has been living in Dubai.

According to the Baza channel on Telegram, Durov asked President Putin to meet when they were in Baku last week, but it is not clear why. However, the Kremlin says Putin did not meet Durov, the independent Russian news site wrote. Novaya Gazeta.

Read more: Telegram CEO Arrested by French Police