The CEO of Telegram, Durov, returns to Dubai in the middle of French studies

Pavel Durov, the founder and CEO of Telegram, born in Russia, said on March 17 that he returned to Dubai after several months in France because he had examined in his messaging app.

The entrepreneur, who also held citizenship in French and Emirati, said that the investigative judges allowed him to leave, even though the probe has not yet been completed.

Durov was arrested at Le Bourget Airport outside of Paris in August 2024 and will be suspended numerous charges in connection with its social network, including terrorism, drug trafficking, fraud, money laundering and child abuse content in telegram. The founder of the messaging app is up to 20 years in prison.

“As you may have heard, I returned to Dubai after several months in France because he examined the activity of criminals on telegram,” said the businessman in his personal telegram channel.

“The process continues, but it feels great to be at home.”

Durov left France on March 15, after the judges allowed him to stay “for several weeks” abroad, not announced sources of the AFP news agency.

Telegram is one of the world's leading messaging apps with over 950 million users worldwide.

Durov left Russia with a fortune of 15.5 billion US dollars in 2014, after refusing to meet the government's demand to close the opposition communities on his VK Social Media platform, which he later sold.

An investigation of an independent Ukrainian group nevertheless showed that Durov Russia had visited more than 60 times since 2014, which contradicted the businessman's claims to be an exile and a pariah in his home country.