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Pavel Durov Responds to Russia’s Terrorist Designation With Guns, Dynamite and a VPN Song

Russian officials appear increasingly confused about who gets to ban whom from using the internet.

Telegram founder Pavel Durov said Russia had designated him a terrorist because he refused to comply with demands for mass surveillance and censorship on the messaging platform.

Russia’s financial-monitoring agency, Rosfinmonitoring, added Durov to its official list of extremists and terrorists after the Federal Security Service accused him of facilitating terrorist activity and announced plans to place him on an international wanted list.

Russian authorities claim Telegram failed to remove channels, chats and bots allegedly used by Ukrainian intelligence services and extremist groups to coordinate sabotage and attacks. Durov, however, has presented the case as retaliation for Telegram’s refusal to give the Russian government greater control over the platform.

Meanwhile, Durov reportedly added six assault-rifle gifts and three sticks of dynamite to his Telegram profile.

His account now resembles a carefully assembled character description: a bearded billionaire surrounded by weapons and explosives, with a military-style song about VPNs playing on repeat.

While Kalashnikovs are just telegram stickers on his profile, the VPN song is real. Earlier in 2026, Durov published an AI-generated military march praising VPN services as Russian authorities intensified efforts to restrict access to Telegram.

Source: Reuters

Source: TASS

Source: Forbes Russia