PARIS, August 29. /TASS/. France’s foreign ministry was against granting French citizenship to Telegram messenger co-founder Pavel Durov in 2021 as it considered that he did not comply with necessary criteria, Le Monde said, citing sources in the ministry.

Thus, according to the newspaper, diplomats who considered Durov’s application filed with the French consulate in Dubai doubted that he would promote "a better image of France." The issue of his naturalization "was politically sensitive already back then" because the mass media had been pointing to "insufficient moderation" on his message service. Moreover, the French authorities did not forget his statements of 2015 when he said that the government of socialists was "responsible [for the series of terror attacks in Paris] as much as the Islamic State (a terrorist group outlawed in Russia - TASS)" because it was spending people’s taxes on "unnecessary wars in the Middle East" while giving shelter to migrants from North Africa.

The procedure of granting honorary citizenship is a political matter, the newspaper noted. Although the procedure is formally initiated by the foreign ministry, applications are often filed directly from ministers or the French president. The Telegram co-founder lodged his application with the Elysee Palace after he had been invited to dinner with President Emmanuel Macron in 2018. Macron’s administration has said nothing about this meeting until recently but now it has confirmed that there had been "two or three meetings" between them.

Durov, one of the world’s most influential tech icons, was detained at Paris’ Le Bourget Airport late on August 24. On Wednesday, a court in Paris charged him with six out of 12 offences named previously, the capital prosecutor’s office said in a statement. The charges include the refusal to cooperate with the authorities, complicity in dissemination of child pornography, complicity in drug trafficking and in a fraud, committed within an organized group. According to the Paris prosecutor’s office, he may face a prison term of up to ten years and a fine of 500,000 euro.

The judge in charge of Durov’s case placed him under judicial control with an obligation to post a bail of 5 million euros, to report to the police station twice a week and he is forbidden to leave the territory of France.

French President Emmanuel Macron said that Durov's detention was not politically motivated. Meanwhile, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said that France’s stance on the issue shows that the values, including freedom of speech, that the country previously upheld are being destroyed, rather than ignored.