Russia has charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with facilitating terrorism and placed him on an international wanted list.

The country's Federal Security Service (FSB) announced the charges on Wednesday, alleging that Telegram failed to remove channels, chats, and bots used by Ukrainian intelligence to recruit young Russians for sabotage and terrorism.

The alleged offenses include armed attacks on law enforcement officers and arson targeting transport, energy, communications, and financial infrastructure.

According to an FSB news release, these attacks have resulted in numerous human casualties, including women and children.

One focus of the allegations is the popular Telegram dating bot "Leo," which reportedly has more than 13 million users and matches people seeking dates or friendship.

The FSB said 46 Russian citizens aged between 12 and 22 have been arrested across the country since July 2025. The FSB alleges they had accepted instructions from Ukrainian intelligence officers to carry out attacks inside Russia.

The agency went on to claim that Ukrainian intelligence officers had been using Leo while posing as women to establish contact and build fake romantic relationships with young Russian men.

According to the FSB, Ukrainian officials would encourage men to pay for cinema tickets, concert tickets, or gifts through phishing links then blackmail them into carrying out attacks in Russia.

"Subsequently, representatives of Ukrainian intelligence agencies, posing as Russian law enforcement or Rosfinmonitoring officers, contacted the individuals through foreign messaging apps," the FSB said.

"The fake law enforcement officials claimed that the transferred funds had been deposited into accounts of the Ukrainian armed forces, and that the transferred coordinates had been used by the enemy to plan missile strikes and drone attacks."

"After this, the deceived and intimidated citizens, unable to critically assess the situation due to psychological pressure, were threatened with criminal prosecution and coerced into committing armed attacks and arson, ostensibly as part of an anti-terrorism security check of the targets and participating in other 'pseudo-operational activities.'"

Leo was banned in Russia on December 23, 2025, on the basis that it contained information relating to child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and LGBT propaganda.

Russia's Supreme Court designated what authorities call the "international LGBT movement" as extremist in November 2023, despite no such formal organization existing, and banned its activities in the country.

Russia further accused Telegram of failing to take down content relating to these "prohibited activities" as well as the numerous accounts allegedly used by Ukrainian intelligence.

The Kremlin has meanwhile been pushing citizens toward the state-backed MAX messenger. Since 2025, smartphones sold in Russia have been required to come with the app preinstalled.

However, government agencies still communicate official updates via Durov’s Telegram, which remains vastly more popular in Russia.

Neither Durov nor Telegram have responded officially, other than the messaging platform's social media post of the founder holding his middle finger to the camera.

Durov, 41, left Russia in 2014 and now lives in the United Arab Emirates. He holds Russian, French, Emirati, and St Kitts and Nevis citizenship.

Although the UAE reportedly has close ties with Russia, it remains unclear whether Moscow will secure an Interpol notice or ask Emirati authorities to extradite Durov.

Like cybercriminals who avoid countries likely to honor US extradition requests, Durov will now need to consider where Russian demands might be enforced.

In August 2024, the Telegram founder was arrested by authorities in France, where he also holds residency and a passport.

Durov was charged with multiple offenses relating to alleged failures to prevent criminal activity on Telegram, including drug trafficking, cyberbullying, organized crime, and the distribution of CSAM.

The French case remains open, although Durov was allowed to return to Dubai in March 2025. ®