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Appeal halts Telegram’s block from going into effect, says court spokeswoman

On April 13, Moscow’s Tagansky District Court ruled to block access to Telegram in Russia

MOSCOW, May 15. /TASS/. The court ruling to block the Telegram messaging service, issued by Moscow’s Tagansky District Court, has not come into effect yet as the company filed an appeal against it, Moscow City Court Spokesperson Ulyana Solopova told TASS.

"There is an appeal under consideration, we are waiting for the shortcomings to be rectified, so the ruling has not come into effect yet. A notice, which appeared on the website automatically with regard to the timeframe, will be removed," she said. The court earlier gave Telegram’s lawyers a deadline until June 4 to address the shortcomings concerning the appeal. 

A notice earlier appeared in the court’s catalogue, saying that the ruling on blocking Telegram had come into effect on May 15.

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. On May 11, Telegram’s lawyers lodged an appeal with the Moscow City Court.