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Pavel Durov's detention

Durov’s arrest deals major blow to free press — Russian ambassador to UK

In Andrey Kelin’s opinion, the United States played a certain role in Durov’s detention

Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin Yury Mikhailenko/TASS

Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin

© Yury Mikhailenko/TASS

LONDON, August 30. /TASS/. The arrest of Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov in France constitutes a major blow to the freedom of speech and media, Russian Ambassador to the UK Andrey Kelin told RT in an interview.

"I have heard about the accusations. They are very serious," the diplomat said in an English-language interview. "I hope that he has sufficient defense capabilities, because his position should be defended very seriously. At the same time, in general, we perfectly understand that it’s a big blow on the freedom of press, freedom of [information] traffic."

In Kelin’s opinion, the United States played a certain role in Durov’s detention.

"Paris has done it on certain advice from the United States. They want keys from this messenger. The messenger has been very successful in Russia and other areas. Yes, we do use this messenger, so I do believe and other do believe that Washington, Paris and other Western capitals would like to read it," Kelin added.

Durov was detained in the Le Bourget airport on August 24. On the next day, his custody period was prolonged up to 96 hours. On August 28, his preliminary custody was over, the entrepreneur was delivered to a court, where the prosecutor charged Durov with six offences, which include complicity in administration of an online platform that enabled illegal transactions within, committed within a criminal group. The offense, according to a statement from the Paris prosecutor's office, is punishable by up to 10 years in prison and a fine of 500,000 euros.

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