Pavel Durov was added to Russia’s Rosfinmonitoring registry of terrorists and extremists on Thursday after the FSB opened a criminal case, a designation that forces Russian banks to freeze his personal assets and stems from Moscow’s allegation that Telegram failed to remove channels used to organize attacks; Durov says the move punishes his refusal of mass surveillance and censorship. Crypto markets largely shrugged: Telegram’s GRAM token traded near $1.42, up 1.7% over 24 hours, while enforcement remains uncertain because Durov holds French and UAE citizenship and lives in Dubai, raising security, jurisdiction and adoption questions for the token, future token launch or fundraising.

Bearish

Predictions Markets

See what traders are focused on

View analytics →

In Brief

Pavel Durov says Russia labeled him a terrorist for refusing mass surveillance.
Rosfinmonitoring listed him a day after the FSB opened a criminal case.
Russian banks must freeze his assets, though Telegram faces no direct restriction.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov has answered Russia’s terrorism charges, accusing Moscow of punishing him for rejecting state demands for mass surveillance and censorship on the messaging app.

Rosfinmonitoring, Russia’s financial monitoring service, added Durov to its registry of terrorists and extremists on Thursday. The listing arrived one day after the Federal Security Service (FSB) opened a criminal case against him.

Durov Answers Moscow With a Meme

Durov did not rebut the allegations point by point. He posted a short statement to his Telegram channel, then followed it with a two-panel image.

“Russia has designated me as a “terrorist” for refusing its demands for mass surveillance and censorship on Telegram. Under Russian law, I’m banned from “publishing information on the Internet”. Russian officials have clearly got confused about who can ban whom from the Internet,” Durov wrote.

The image placed his own photo, captioned terrorist, beside Taliban representatives greeting Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov, captioned respected partners. Russia’s Supreme Court removed the Taliban from that same registry in April 2025.

What the Designation Actually Changes

Russian banks must freeze the personal assets of anyone on the Rosfinmonitoring list and cut off financial services. That obligation covers Durov himself, not Telegram as a legal entity.

The FSB alleges the platform failed to delete channels, chats, and bots that Ukrainian intelligence and extremist groups used to organize attacks inside Russia. Durov, 41, now sits on the international wanted list and faces a possible life sentence. Officials had been negotiating with Telegram days earlier.

Markets shrugged. Gram (GRAM), the Telegram-linked token Durov rebranded from Toncoin in June, traded near $1.42, up 1.7% over 24 hours.

GRAM Price Performance. Source: BeInCrypto

Enforcement remains the open question. Durov holds French and UAE citizenship and lives in Dubai, so any arrest would need cooperation Moscow has not yet secured. French prosecutors lifted his travel restrictions in November.

Read the article at BeInCrypto