At the end of August this year. Pavel Durov, hand in hand with his girlfriend Yulia Vavilova, are touring Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan and Azerbaijan on horseback. They enjoy the mountain ranges, the lakes and the splendor of Samarkand.
At the same time, Vladimir Putin is touring the Caucasian republics, not as a tourist, but to familiarize himself with the progress of the repair of gas pipelines before the onset of winter. Some of his close associates, who found out about Durov's presence, suggested to Putin to organize a meeting of the president with the “Russian Mark Zuckerberg”. The president refused, even though both were born in Leningrad. The well-intentioned confidante had failed to appreciate that Putin could not shake the hand of a man who had fled Russia after defying the FSB. In 2014, Pavel Durov refused to reveal to the employees of the Federal Security Service Navalny's supporters using Telegram.
With the aura of a fighter for freedom of speech and personal independence, he, together with his brother Nikolai and a dozen IT specialists, settled in Dubai. The number of Telegram users is growing. The billions in Pavel's bank accounts are also growing. Professional opportunist – Emmanuel Macron awards the genius inventor for “special services to France” with a French passport. At the same time, the French president has turned a deaf ear to calls for help from France by another defender of freedom of speech – Julian Assange exposed the spying on European allies by US intelligence.
It is impossible that Pavel Durov did not know that five French investigators working for EVROJUST issued a warrant for his search, based on 12 charges, including suspicions of cybercrimes, pedophile videos, drug trafficking and others. Despite the danger that threatened him, he landed at Bourget airport in Paris, with his companion Yulia Vavilova, on August 24 at 5:30 p.m. and was immediately arrested. Pavel shows his French passport and lies that he has a meeting with Macron.
Did the genius entrepreneur act recklessly? It is very possible that he deliberately provoked the French human rights activists. With a $16 billion mattress and 900 million users, anyone can afford it. Meanwhile, protests around the world are pouring into France – the founding country of the "Human Rights" charter?! The Internet, thousands of sites and platforms overflow with the message FREE PAVEL! The voices of Elon Musk, Paul Graham and Julian Assange echoed the loudest.
Durov was released only 4 days after Bourget's arrest, but remained at the disposal of the prosecutors.
Every miracle in three days. On September 19, at a conference of the European unit to fight organized cybercrime EVROJUST, French representatives said that the owner of Telegram – Pavel Durov cooperates.
In 2023, the Telegram platform was blocked in Brazil, a country leader in drug trafficking in South America. On this occasion, Pavel Durov wrote: “Telegram's mission is to protect privacy and freedom of speech throughout the world. In the event that any local laws do not match our principles, it is with great regret that we prefer to leave those markets rather than betray our users.“
In Paris, investigators apparently presented Durov with evidence of the presence of jihadists, pedophiles, dealers and cybercriminals in Telegram. They convinced him to bring order and censorship to the platform. Banned in Brazil, whatever principles he defends, Pavel cannot afford to leave the European market.
The media storm that raged after the arrest of Pavel Durov opened the flow of spicy manifestations from the personal life of the brilliant young man. On May 26, 2012, in St. Petersburg, he and his associates threw 60 thousand rubles, folded like paper airplanes, from the window of their office – the Telegram symbol.
It is still too early to write a biography of the Russian Frenchman, but the material is already impressive, because the appearances of the main character have nothing to do with those of an ordinary person. In it, readers will discover that Pavel Durov is a sperm donor. He is proud to have helped hundreds of childless families in 12 countries to have children. He also offers to supply DNA along with his seed so that his many sons and daughters can know who their biological father is.
This concern of his for childless families, however, contradicts his personal attitude towards his own children.
This accusation spread his first wife - Irina Bolgar, who lives in Geneva together with their children, who are 7, 8 and 11 years old. She used the media interest in the genius husband to expose his paternal ineptitude. The huge difference existing between words and deeds.
Pavel Durov's personality is controversial. It evokes different feelings depending on the reader's point of view, for now. To the viewer – some day. Because there will certainly be a film or a series of films about the life of Pavel Durov. Unfortunately, Jean Paul Belmondo and Alain Delon are no more. One of the two Frenchmen could perfectly fulfill the role of Durov.