Russia alerts France about the “political persecution” of the founder of Telegram.
On Thursday, the French government was forewarned by the Kremlin not to see the criminal investigation against Telegram creator Pavel Durov as “political persecution.”
Russia has described Durov’s unexpected arrest in Paris earlier this week as being politically motivated. Russia has spearheaded an extraordinary crackdown on political opponents throughout its incursion in Ukraine.
Durov, a French citizen born in Russia, has been accused by France on multiple counts for neglecting to remove unlawful and extremist information from the well-known social networking site.
Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Kremlin, stated, “The most important thing is that what is happening in France not run into political persecution.”
He said, “Of course, we regard him as a Russian citizen and we will be prepared to offer assistance as much as possible.”
“We’ll be keeping an eye on what happens next.”
Durov was granted conditional release against a bail of five million euros on the condition he must report to a police station twice a week as well as remain in France, French prosecutors said.
Meanwhile, French President, Emmanuel Macron, denied the arrest was politically motivated.
Telegram is one of Russia’s most popular messaging apps.
Russian officials have rushed to defend Durov since he was arrested last weekend at a Paris airport.