PARIS, June 19. /TASS/. French intelligence services that are waging an information war against Russia appeared greatly annoyed by the public statements of Telegram messenger co-founder Pavel Durov on France's interference in the Romanian presidential election, the Le Point magazine wrote.

"Durov particularly irritates them [France's intelligence services] amid the information war waged by French spies against Russia and a number of other states," the article reads.

The magazine said that the French intelligence agencies were particularly irritated by Durov's statements about the alleged trip of Nicolas Lerner, the chief of the French Directorate General for External Security (DGSE), to Romania during the pre-election campaign in order to prepare a "counter-offensive" in case of a pro-European candidate's defeat in the presidential election.

Earlier, Durov said in an interview with Le Point that Lerner asked him at a meeting in Paris to ban Telegram channels run by supporters of a conservative candidate in the Romanian presidential election, adding that he refused the request. Durov noted that he hadn't silenced groups related to the political opposition or protests in any country.

The magazine cited statements made by the DGSE, which strongly refuted the businessman's claims. "The DGSE strongly refutes Pavel Durov's unfounded allegations that it addressed the Telegram founder with requests of a political nature during the Romanian election, while the purpose of the meeting was merely to remind him of his legal obligations, which his company has often violated," the service said.

On May 18, Durov said that Telegram had refused to block the channels of Romanian conservatives ahead of the election at the request of "a Western European country." Later, he clarified on his X social media page that Lerner had approached him with the request this spring. The French intelligence agency confirmed that "indeed, they were forced to contact Pavel Durov directly several times in recent years to remind him of his company's responsibility to prevent threats of terrorism and child pornography," but it "strongly denies the allegations that in these cases there were requests to ban accounts in connection with an electoral process."

Durov later expressed his readiness to testify under oath that the statement he made about foreign meddling in the presidential election in Romania is true. According to the businessman, the French foreign intelligence agency sought to obtain IP addresses of some Romanian, Moldovan and Ukrainian nationals under the guise of fighting terrorism and child pornography.