In a significant development, Russia’s main domestic security agency on Wednesday said that Pavel Durov, founder of the messaging app Telegram, has been charged with “aiding terrorism” and put on an international wanted list.
Telegram’s administration has not removed “numerous channels, chats and bots” that are “actively used by Ukrainian intelligence agencies, terrorist, and extremist organisations to prepare and coordinate acts of sabotage and terrorism, mass murder, and cyberfraud” in Russia, the agency said in a statement Wednesday.
Charges against Durov come as Russia restricts Telegram
The Federal Security Service is also known as the FSB. Charges against Durov come as Russia restricts Telegram, one of the most popular messaging apps in the country. Durov earlier this year announced that the Russian authorities opened a criminal investigation against him and accused them of fabricating pretexts to restrict access to Telegram as part of an attempt to “suppress the right to privacy and free speech.”
Russia-Iran sanctions bill advances in US Senate
In another development, the US Senate, in a show of bipartisanship, has voted overwhelmingly to fast-track a bill that would allow US President Donald Trump to impose sanctions on major buyers of oil from Russia and Iran, which would affect countries such as India and China.
The Senate voted 86-12 on Tuesday to invoke the cloture motion to advance the Lindsey O Graham Sanctioning Russia and Iran Act of 2026, hours after they gathered to bid a final farewell to the Senator from South Carolina, who passed away on July 11.
Cloture is a formal procedure of the Senate to set a time limit for the debate and related actions on an issue before it is put to a final vote. Senators voted on the cloture motion after a meeting with visiting Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, who was here for the funeral service of the late Lindsey Graham.
Zelenskyy was in the Senate gallery, waving and smiling at the Senators as they lined up to cast their votes. Graham, a Republican, and Democratic Senator Richard Blumenthal had worked on the Russia sanctions bill for more than a year. Iran was added to the bill at the instance of Trump.
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