A man trudges through snow to a bleak office full of paperwork. A woman logs onto a government computer. The weary bureaucrats seem to be reaching a breaking point with life in Vladimir Putin’s Russia.“Is this the life I dreamed of?” a speaker asks. The camera pans over photos of their children on their desks.

The cinematic video, with the gray tones of a Cold War thriller, is part of a U.S. effort to provide more tools for disaffected Russians who might be willing to provide information. Created by the Central Intelligence Agency, the two-minute clip was posted Tuesday on a new Telegram channel that provides information on how to securely contact the U.S. agency using a Tor browser and encryption tools to send information via the dark web.

“Are you a military officer? Do you work in intelligence, diplomacy, science, high technology or deal with people who do?” reads a message in the video, which ends with both characters deciding to contact the CIA on their phones. “Do you have information about the economy or the top leadership of the Russian Federation? Get in touch with us.”

The recruitment effort comes as Russia’s winter push in Ukraine led to little progress and staggering losses, with more than 100,000 soldiers killed or wounded since December alone, according to a National Security Council spokesman. U.S. intelligence agencies have indicated that they expect the twin tolls of war and economic sanctions will make more Russians open to recruitment, including ordinary bureaucrats, fed-up military officers, and wealthy businesspeople who have taken a financial hit.

“We’re looking around the world for Russians who are as disgusted with [Putin’s actions] as we are,” CIA Director of Operations David Marlowe said last November in rare remarks at an event at George Mason University. “Because we’re open for business.”

Read More: How Telegram Became the Digital Battlefield in the Russia-Ukraine War.

The video suggests that making the “difficult but important decision to quietly get in touch with the CIA” is the “dignified” decision, and in the best interest of Russians’ families. “Your information may be more valuable than you think,” it says.

Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova on Tuesday called the channel, which had almost 6,000 subscribers by noon, “a very convenient resource for tracking applicants.”

The agency first posted Russian-language instructions for how to get in touch with the CIA on its social channels last year. But with access to most mainstream social-media sites restricted by the Kremlin, the Telegram messaging app has become the primary platform for Russians to communicate beyond the nation’s borders and seek uncensored information. While the app was popular in Russia before the war, its use exploded after the invasion of Ukraine. An analysis of 187 Russian-language news channels provided to TIME last year by Logically, a U.K.-based technology company, showed that subscribers to Russian-language Telegram channels grew by 8 million, or 48%, in the month after the invasion. The platform became the war’s digital battlefield, a prime venue for both intelligence-gathering and recruitment.

U.S. officials clearly targeted the video on the platform to appeal to Russian patriotism and concern for their families, experts tell TIME. It includes quotes from Russian writers Leo Tolstoy and Fyodor Dostoevsky, and notably uses the word “выстоять,” the Russian term for “stand up” or “resist,” which has frequently been used by Putin’s own military recruitment campaigns.

“They’re picking up on the language of the regime and just gently twisting it into another kind of context,” says Ian Garner, a historian and analyst of Russian propaganda.

Read More: Inside the Kremlin’s Year of Ukraine Propaganda.

Despite the work that went into the Telegram campaign, there’s a glaring flaw, says Garner: “They’re not offering anything.” Most people with access to information that would interest the CIA, such as mid-level government officials, are provided security by the state, and their children are much less likely to be forced to enlist.

The video “goes from grainy sad life in Russia to what–grainy, sad life on the CIA side?” asks Garner. The messaging, which emphasizes America’s pursuit of “the truth,” is also likely to fall flat, he says. “Most Russians are suspicious of America and the CIA in particular. So associating this with the CIA is only likely to reinforce the belief that they’re the ones doing the lying.”

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Telegram is in a double bind with its CEO and co-founder, Pavel Durov, charged in France for allowing illegal content on the platform. What he decides to do next could go against the company’s core values and shatter its reputation.  

The main charges in France are allegations that Telegram was complicit in storing and distributing child sexual abuse material (CSAM) and facilitating drug trafficking, organised fraud, and other illegal transactions.

“Telegram as a company is in a dilemma,” Yevgeniy Golovchenko, assistant professor with the department of political science at the University of Copenhagen, told Euronews Next.

“On one hand, they probably do not want to have this kind of friction in this escalation that we’re seeing right now, so they do have some incentive to comply with French laws,” Golovchenko said.

“On the other hand, if they do, it signals to the world that they are willing to actually increase moderation, and they’ll be going against the core of their product”. 

Anti-government brand

Telegram is marketed as a platform that does not moderate much or deliver user data to states, although it could as the end-to-end encryption is not a default setting, meaning that many users do not know their data is being kept unless they select encryption for each message. 

Launched in 2013 by Durov and his brother Nikolai, Telegram started its life as a messaging app that prioritised speed, security, and a way to avoid government interference. 

The idea came after Durov’s earlier social media venture, Russia’s largest social network VKontakte (VK), faced pressure from Russian authorities to hand over personal data to Russia’s security services, the FSB.

This included a demand to block the account of the late Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny.

Durov consequently left Russia, later selling VK and then starting Telegram, which as of July 2024, garnered more than 950 million monthly active users worldwide. 

“Telegram’s reputation is [as] a project that goes against cooperation with the state,” said Golovchenko, adding that Durov’s personal story of leaving Russia and withstanding multiple bans across the world underlines this brand.

If Durov does not collaborate with French authorities to tighten content moderation, it could “strengthen this [anti-government] brand for users,” he added.

‘Brazenly ignore regulation’

But Telegram already had a questionable reputation. 

The app has become a popular tool to organise anti-government protests, such as in Iran or Belarus, and a tool of communication in the Ukraine war. But it has similarly been used by Russia’s military and propaganda groups as well as global extremist and criminal organisations. 

“I think [the arrest] already has had an implication on Telegram’s reputation. To me, Telegram was never that virgin-like,” William Echikson from the Center for European Policy Analysis (CEPA) told Euronews Next. 

“I’ve never known a company that so brazenly just ignored the regulators and it doesn’t surprise me they ignored the law,” he added. 

Despite Russia’s attempts to ban Telegram in 2018, public officials are now trying to say the country should help Durov, which “could help the Russian propaganda narrative about the West being authoritarian and not having enough freedom,” Golovchenko said.

As Telegram has played a part in both sides of the war in Ukraine, which has been critical of the app due to national security fears of it not being neutral or secure enough, which side the platform falls on for content moderation could further increase criticism of the app in Ukraine and praise by Russia, or the opposite.  

It is extremely rare for Ilya Yashin, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin who was recently released from prison, and Margarita Simonyan, a rabid Kremlin propagandist, to find common ground.

But in the hours after the surprise arrest of Pavel Durov, the reclusive founder of the Telegram messaging app, both Yashin and Simonyan – along with thousands of other Russians across the political spectrum – united in demanding his release, underscoring the unique place Telegram holds as Russia’s most popular messaging app.

On Monday evening, prosecutors in France announced that Durov was being held in connection with an investigation into criminal activity on the platform and a lack of cooperation with law enforcement. The Paris prosecutor, Laure Beccuau, said the investigation concerned crimes related to illicit transactions, child sexual abuse, fraud and the refusal to communicate information to authorities.

“I do not consider Pavel Durov to be a criminal and I hope he will be able to prove his innocence in court,” Yashin wrote on X on Monday.

The sentiment was echoed across the opposition, who first came to admire Durov when, as the 27-year-old CEO of the social media platform VKontakte, he received a request from the FSB to take down the pages of opposition groups.

Durov refused and would eventually be forced to sell VKontakte to the state, making him a rare tech mogul to defy the Russian authorities.

His next project, the messaging app Telegram, was built on the principle of user privacy. It also introduced “channels” that allow moderators to quickly disseminate information to large numbers of followers, combining the reach and immediacy of a Twitter/X feed with the focus of an email newsletter – features that have made it a key platform for organising anti-Putin protests.

Despite growing rumours that Durov may have fallen under the Kremlin’s influence, Telegram has remained the primary channel for dissent in Russia, especially after the outbreak of the war, as Putin cracked down on independent media outlets and banned western social media platforms.

Many in the Russian opposition therefore quickly expressed concerns that Durov’s cooperation with French authorities could prompt Moscow to shut down the platform domestically or open the door to similar demands to gain access to Telegram from the Russian government.

For the Kremlin, which has repeatedly clashed with Durov and unsuccessfully tried to ban Telegram, the arrest presented a surprising propaganda coup.

On state talkshows and in print media, Durov’s detention has been portrayed by Russian officials as an example of western hypocrisy over free speech. Kremlin propagandists also quickly put forward unfounded theories suggesting that western intelligence agencies orchestrated Durov’s arrest to gain access to Telegram’s “keys”, including private chats and data of millions of Russians.

“Everyone who is used to using the platform for sensitive conversations should delete those conversations right now and never do it again,” warned Kremlin propagandist Simonyan in a Telegram post.

“Durov has been shut down to get the keys. And he’s going to give them.”

Baza, a Telegram channel affiliated with Russia’s security apparatus, reported that the defence ministry, prominent businessmen, and officers from several security agencies were swiftly instructed to delete work-related messages from the app.

With Durov’s fate in question, so too is the future of Telegram. Analysts believe that the arrest could hinder Telegram’s future fundraising efforts and undermine its financial stability.

There are also growing concerns about the app’s ability to maintain its core privacy protections, particularly after reports from French media that law enforcement agents are trying to access Telegram’s database of private chats.

The potential collapse of Telegram – which by early 2023 handled up to 80% of Russia’s total messenger traffic – could have a far-reaching impact on Russian society.

One group particularly concerned with Durov’s arrest is the Russian military, along with a cohort of pro-war bloggers and reporters who have gained prominence by covering the conflict on Telegram.

Since the start of Russia’s full-scale invasion in February 2022, Telegram has served both as a communication tool within the Russian army and as a platform for the Kremlin to convey its narrative of the war to ordinary Russians.

“They practically detained the head of communications for the Russian army,” lamented the popular Russian military blogger channel, Povernutie na Z Voine, in a Telegram post.

Ordinary Ukrainians and the country’s military also use Telegram to raise funds for the army and blog about the war. However, for internal communications, the army is known to primarily rely on the Signal platform.

Rybar, a leading military analyst close to the Russian leadership described Telegram as “perhaps the main means of units’ command and control”.

Rybar added that Durov’s arrest has exposed the weaknesses in Russia’s communication channels and underscored the urgent need to develop state-controlled apps.

“It would be both quite sad and somewhat amusing if Durov’s arrest turned out to be the catalyst for changes in communication within the Russian armed forces,” he concluded.

In the wake of Telegram CEO Pavel Durov’s bombshell arrest in France last weekend and subsequent criminal indictment, much is still uncertain—particularly, how the high-stakes drama will impact Telegram’s massive crypto ambitions. 

This year, Telegram became perhaps the most prominent company to ever jump with both feet into the cryptosphere. The dominant messaging service encouraged the proliferation of an ecosystem of on-chain, in-app games and services powered by Telegram’s blockchain of choice, The Open Network (TON). Those so-called “mini apps” exploded in popularity this spring, largely thanks to their ability to earn users crypto rewards via token airdrops. 

Momentum from mini app activity catapulted Telegram to a record 950 million monthly active users in July, and Telegram has directly embraced TON by using it to pay channel operators a share of advertising revenue, along with launching an in-app currency called Stars that’s linked with TON.

The company’s new path appeared so limitless that some TON developers prophesied the app might soon ride its on-chain mini app model to become the West’s version of China’s “everything app,” WeChat.

But crypto is also, notoriously, a legally risky sandbox to play in. So now that Telegram appears to have awoken the regulatory beast, could the company’s crypto future be in jeopardy?

“How big do they want to get?”

The charges filed against Telegram CEO Pavel Durov on Wednesday do not mention cryptocurrency whatsoever. They focus instead on content related to illegal topics like child pornography and drug sales that Durov allegedly allowed to proliferate on his platform. 

But the timing of the indictment—in the midst of Telegram’s aggressive push to make crypto-backed financial services a central offering—speaks loudly, according to Seth Goertz, a former U.S. Attorney specializing in cryptocurrency and cybersecurity.

“The more they go down that road, the more they’re inviting scrutiny,” Goertz told Decrypt of Telegram’s finance and commerce-related ambitions. “How big do they want to get?”

The former prosecutor specifically pointed to the integration, in April, of the popular stablecoin Tether (USDT) with both TON and the Wallet app on Telegram. While the move was a massive boon for Telegram’s mini apps, allowing users to transact in a dollar-backed currency that doesn’t fluctuate nearly as much as TON’s native token, the stablecoin also has a long track record of fueling illicit activity due to that same attractiveness.  

“If governments are seeing large amounts of Tether being moved through Telegram, it is going to attract tremendous scrutiny, for sure,” Goertz said. “The dollar is a powerful thing.”

Decrypt reached out to numerous TON developers and creators of Telegram mini apps for this story regarding their views on Durov’s arrest, and how it might impact the future of Telegram’s crypto-related ambitions. All declined comment.

Telegram did not respond to multiple requests for comment on this story.

Crypto tech vs. crypto attitude

Not everyone is adamant that the factors that compelled the French government to arrest Durov have anything to do with crypto or any other technology peddled by Telegram—potentially indicating that the company’s “everything app” ambitions may not be the center of the story. 

Despite this week’s uproar on Crypto Twitter—which framed Durov’s arrest as an assault on user rights to privacy—Ben Rubin, the founder of the once-trendy, since-shuttered video chat app Houseparty, believes Telegram didn’t ruffle many feathers with its actual privacy features.

In reality, the app is actually less secure by default than other popular messaging platforms with automatic end-to-end encryption like Signal, iMessage, and even WhatsApp.

Crucially, though, Telegram’s leadership is notoriously standoffish when it comes to dealing with government entities. This created a perfect storm, in Rubin’s opinion, with Telegram sitting on lots of vulnerable data about its users, but refusing to hand it over. 

“My intuition is that this has nothing to do with crypto,” Rubin told Decrypt. “When a platform not only doesn’t protect user privacy—by not introducing end-to-end encryption—but also pisses off the regulators, you get the situation that you’re in now.”

In that sense, Telegram and Durov may now be in trouble less due to crypto tech, and more due to embodying the same kind of anti-establishment attitude that has fueled the crypto industry and made Durov something of a free speech icon.

When French prosecutors announced charges against Durov on Wednesday, they specifically underscored how Telegram’s failure to communicate whatsoever with government entities was a crucial factor that aggravated the entire situation.

“This indictment is the result of a thorough investigation into Telegram’s near-total lack of response to judicial requests, which has been a concern for multiple law enforcement agencies across Europe,” prosecutor Laure Beccuau said.

Rubin, who is currently building Towns, a permissionless app for group chats that runs on Ethereum layer-2 network Base, said such conflict could be easily avoided if Telegram adopted an inverse to its current approach: encrypting all user messages automatically, and letting law enforcement in—when necessary—to parse through other more extraneous data.  

“This is how you actually find a good balance where the regulators don’t have too much access to things, and they cannot abuse the power,” Rubin said. 

“But they actually need to do work,” he added of regulators. “And I think we will be in trouble if, for anyone who builds online communication, regulators come and ask to cooperate and we all give them the finger. That’s not going to work out.”

In recent days, Durov’s arrest has become a rallying cry for tech leaders ranging from Elon Musk to prominent crypto investor and former Coinbase CTO Balaji Srinivasan.

Crypto advocates in particular have rushed to the Telegram founder’s defense, framing his prosecution as an existential attack on the foundational pillars of the decentralization movement. 

But was it actually groundbreaking crypto tech that so irked the French government in Durov’s case? Or rather, his defiant and dogmatic personification of the crypto persona?

Edited by Andrew Hayward

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Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, would have maintained ties with French counterintelligence. He was detained on August 24 but released on bail on August 29.

By Anthony Marcus, correspondent for Eurasia Business News, on August 31, 2024. Article n°1201.

During interrogation in Paris with French police, Pavel Durov said that he maintained ties with French counterintelligence officers and met with them in Dubai, revealed local newspapers. Telegram refused to cooperate with the French authorities, but Durov stressed that it complies with EU laws.

The founder of the Telegram messenger, Pavel Durov, during interrogation in Paris, said that he had maintained ties with representatives of the General Directorate of Internal Security of France (DGSI, counterintelligence), in particular, he met with them in Dubai, the Libération newspaper writes, citing a source.

According to the French newspaper, the Russian-French tech magnate made it clear that “it would be inappropriate for him to disclose information constituting a military secret”. What was discussed, the newspaper did not specify.

The source also said that Durov, in his own words, “as part of the fight against terrorism, has opened an official channel of communication with the DGSI with a hotline and a special email address.“

The exchange of information through these channels made it possible to prevent several terrorist attacks, the source told Liberation.

According to the French newspaper, after his arrest in Paris on August 24 when his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport near Paris, Pavel Durov expressed his readiness to cooperate with French law enforcement agencies and provided them with his mobile phone with an access code to it.

An employee of the French Ministry of Justice told Politico that Telegram refused to cooperate specifically with the French authorities, which caused disappointment in Paris.

Refusal to cooperate with the French authorities is among the charges brought against Pavel Durov in France after his detention. There are six of them in total. Only on charges of complicity in the administration of an online platform for making illegal transactions, the tech magnate faces up to ten years in prison and a fine of € 500,000.

Durov was detained on the evening of August 24 at Paris’ Le Bourget airport, where he flew from Baku on a private jet. Four days later, he was released under judicial supervision and after payment of a € 5 million bail.

In a statement published after Pavel Durov’s detention, Telegram said that the messenger complies with EU laws, and its moderation “meets industry standards and is constantly improving.” The position of the French authorities that the platform or its owner is responsible for abuses in the messenger was called absurd by Telegram.

The Kremlin said it was ready to help Durov, since he still has a Russian passport along with the French one. Consular access to the founder of Telegram was also requested by the UAE, of which he is also a citizen. In addition, Pavel Durov has citizenship of St. Kitts and Nevis.

Arrested at the airport Le Bourget on August 24, at 08:00 PM, the French-Russian businessman himself does not admit guilt, and the French President Emmanuel Macron stated that there is no politics in this investigation.

Pavel Durov’s net worth is currently estimated at $15.5 billion as of August 2024. This makes him the 150th wealthiest person in the world.

The EU authorities are also investigating, who believe that Telegram could underestimate the number of users in the EU in order not to comply with the norms for large IT companies, the Financial Times reports. In its reports, Telegram indicated that the messenger has less than 45 million users in the European Union. 

Read also : Gold : Build Your Wealth and Freedom

“The director of Telegram was detained as part of an ongoing judicial investigation,” French President Emmanuel Macron said, apparently meaning that this case is not a personal case agaisnt Mr. Pavel Durov, but a large investigation of various crimes committed by users of the Telegram messenger.

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© Copyright 2024 – Eurasia Business News. Article no. 1201.