Moscow, Aug 26 (IANS): Russian President Vladimir Putin did not have any meeting with Telegram CEO Pavel Durov, who has been arrested by French authorities, during his visit to Azerbaijan earlier this month, the Kremlin said on Monday.
Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov made the clarification at a media interaction here when asked about the arrest of Durov, who was detained at a Paris airport after arriving from Azerbaijan by a private jet on Saturday, RT reported.
He, however, refused to comment on the controversial arrest. "We don’t know what he’s accused of. We have not heard any official statements on the matter. We have to wait for the situation to clear up before we say anything," he said.
The spokesman also dismissed media reports claiming that Durov had met President Putin during his visit to Baku on August 18 and 19. Several media outlets at the time reported that the pair were visiting the city at the same time and even claimed that they had a meeting behind the scenes.
The French authorities have yet to outline the details of charges faced by the Russian tech mogul, who is also a citizen of France, the UAE, and the Caribbean island nation of St Kitts and Nevis. According to multiple reports, he was arrested on several charges which involved the alleged spread of criminal activity on Telegram
The encrypted messaging platform has denied any wrongdoing on Durov’s part, stating that it is "absurd to claim that a platform or its owner are responsible for abuse of that platform".
It said it abides by the EU laws, including the Digital Services Act.
The platform, which has about 900 million active users, has been a critical source of information for the ongoing war between Ukraine and Russia. In a rare interview with US political commentator Tucker Carlson in April, Durov said Telegram’s goal is to be a “neutral” platform and resist requests from governments to moderate.
Numerous opinion leaders, both in the West and Russia, including Elon Musk, have slammed the development as a crackdown on free speech, and claimed that the US was behind the arrest.