LAVROV - About the situation with the detention of Telegram founder P.V. Durov

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Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov’s statement and answers to media questions following talks with Yemeni Minister of Foreign Affairs and Expatriates Shaya al-Zindani, Moscow, August 27, 2024.

Question: What is your assessment of the situation surrounding the detention in France of Pavel Durov, the Telegram founder? Has Paris responded to the Russian note in any way? Could an eventual agreement by Pavel Durov to cooperate with the French investigative authorities prompt the Foreign Ministry to stop using this social media platform? How would this affect Moscow’s relations with Paris?

Sergey Lavrov: Let me begin with the last part of your question. The relations between Moscow and Paris are at their all-time low, which is attributable, among other things, to France’s position on the freedom of speech and spreading information in general, as well as respecting journalisms as a profession.

Long before the current events, I mean many years ago when the Ukraine crisis had yet to break out in the open, we took issue with the fact that the French authorities denied accreditation to RT and Sputnik. We reached out to the corresponding services within the Elysee Palace on multiple occasions and made sure that Emmanuel Macron’s aides hear our concerns. However, they remained inflexible on this matter and kept saying that RT and Sputnik were state-run propaganda mouthpieces rather than media outlets. This is only one of the things defining the way our French colleagues treat the freedom of speech and the media.

Moreover, in 1990, when the so-called end of history, to use Francis Fukuyama’s expression, happened, it was France which initiated the adoption by the OSCE of a special declaration containing a solemn promise to ensure and totally guarantee free access to any information for the media on their territory, as well as in other OSCE member states. This was set forth in the Charter of Paris for a New Europe. As long as the USSR was breaking apart, while the Russian Federation found itself in a state in which is existed in the early and mid-1990s, the West insisted that what they presented as a sacrosanct commitment be honoured, primarily by our country. As time passed, we came back to our roots and restored our national identity, came back to where we came from and started to assert our own interests on the international stage. This is when the West started diverting from this very commitment. Today, we are the only ones within the OSCE to remind others about our shared commitment to ensure access to information both within and outside our countries. All the others have adopted all these laws and guidelines and now accuse Pavel Durov of failing to comply with one of them. Meanwhile, a Belgian company tasked with overseeing compliance with this law within the European Union has been saying that it has not voiced any complaints in this regard. This goes to say that there are a lot of weird things here.

We have known the way France treats the freedom of speech for quite a while now. As I have already said, our relations have hit rock bottom, and this was not our fault. Emmanuel Macron has been the leading voice both within NATO and the European Union when it comes to calling for tightening their policies regarding Russia, delivering more military aid to Ukraine and ensuring that Vladimir Zelensky’s Nazi regime wins on the battlefield. You can see that. There is nothing to add here.

As for specific actions on our behalf. They are reviewing our diplomatic note and we are waiting for their answer. You probably know that the United Arab Emirates are also working along the same lines. They also have a group of lawyers who have requested immediate access to Pavel Durov.

Now to your question about using this platform. It offers a solution that is both convenient and secure. If anyone had any doubts, at least now that they have clearly taken a cue from someone to detain Pavel Durov and are threatening to severely punish him in the hope of getting the encryption keys, by acting this way the French have proven that Telegram is actually a reliable and popular social media platform.

There was a time when we had our own grievances with Telegram. But this was a strictly legal matter. The law guided us in our efforts and we were able to resolve these issues. This was never a matter of infringing upon Pavel Durov’s freedom or the freedom of his team. Moreover, he said many times that he would not compromise the principles that underlie Telegram’s operation.