MOSCOW (Reuters) – Former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev said on Sunday that Pavel Durov, the Russian-born founder of messaging app Telegram, miscalculated by fleeing Russia, believing he would never have to cooperate with security services abroad.
Medvedev recounted a conversation he had with Durov several years ago in which Medvedev told him that if he did not cooperate with law enforcement agencies, he would be in trouble in any country.
Medvedev, deputy head of Russia’s Security Council, said Durov wanted to be a “brilliant ‘man of the world’ who lives wonderfully without a fatherland.”
“He miscalculated,” Medvedev said. “For all our common enemies now, he is Russian – and therefore unpredictable and dangerous.”
“Durov should finally realize that one cannot choose one’s motherland,” Medvedev said.
(Reporting by Reuters; Editing by Guy Faulconbridge)