Russian Authorities Charge Telegram Founder Pavel Durov with Aiding Terrorism

Russian lawmakers are advising citizens to refrain from buying Gram cryptocurrency and halt all Telegram financial transactions until official guidance is issued by security agencies. This warning comes as Pavel Durov, founder of VKontakte and Telegram, faces charges in Russia for aiding terrorist activity.

The FSB claims that Telegram failed to remove 'numerous channels, chats, and bots' used by Ukrainian special services and extremist organizations to prepare acts of terrorism and cyber-fraud. The agency maintains that these activities have resulted in 'numerous human casualties, including women and children, as well as multi-billion dollar material damage.'

Russian official Andrey Svintsov, deputy chairman of the State Duma Committee on Information Policy, has advised citizens to stop purchasing Gram cryptocurrency. He suggested waiting for official comments from Roskomnadzor and the FSB before conducting 'financial transactions via Telegram channels.' Svintsov reiterated demands that Russian authorities have made of Pavel Durov: Telegram must open an office in Russia, store user data within the country, and cooperate with intelligence services.

Following the announcement of the charges against Durov, Gram fell slightly, dropping from $1.45 to a daily low of $1.38 on July 29. Within 24 hours, the token had recovered to around $1.42. However, Gram remains well below its May 8 peak of just over $2.70 and is down 14% for the year.