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Foreign Ministry’s spokeswoman sees nothing wrong in keeping ministry’s Telegram channel

On April 13, Moscow’s Tagansky District Court ruled to block access to Telegram in Russia over its failure to provide decryption keys

MOSCOW, July 20. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said she saw nothing wrong in keeping the ministry’s official Telegram channel functioning despite a court ruling to block the messenger.

"I see no contradiction here," she said in an interview with the Kommersant daily. "What was the court ruling about? That’s right, to block the platform itself. But it says nothing about channels operating on that platform."

She said the Russian Foreign Ministry consulted with Russia’s telecoms watchdog Roskomnadzor, and received clarifications on the matter.

On April 13, Moscow’s Tagansky District Court ruled to block access to Telegram in Russia over its failure to provide decryption keys for messages to the Federal Security Service. On April 16, the Russian media watchdog received the court’s ruling on restricting access to Telegram’s products. On the same day, mobile operators began to take steps to block Telegram in compliance with the court’s decision.