MOSCOW, July 29 (Xinhua) -- Russia's Security Service (FSB) said Wednesday that Telegram founder Pavel Durov has been charged with assisting terrorist activities under a criminal statute.

File photo: AFP

According to the FSB, Telegram's operators failed to remove channels, chats and bots actively used by Ukraine's special services to plan acts of sabotage and terrorism on Russian territory, commit mass killings and engage in cyber-fraud. These activities have resulted in numerous casualties, including women and children, and caused property damage worth billions of rubles.

The FSB noted that operatives of Ukraine's special services used the dating service Dayvinchik on Telegram. Posing as young women, they contacted young Russian men online. With nearly 13.7 million monthly users, the dating service was allegedly used as an operational tool.

According to the FSB, since July 2025, 46 young Russian users of Dayvinchik have been detained across 16 regions of Russia. Among other offenses, they carried out assaults against law-enforcement officers and committed arson attacks on various facilities on instructions from Ukraine's special services.

Telegram is a messaging platform that allows users to exchange messages and multimedia files in various formats. It was created in 2013 by Durov. Telegram's monthly-active-user figure exceeds one billion.