Russia's Telegram crackdown: Pavel Durov charged with aiding terrorism

Russia's Federal Security Service (FSB) on Wednesday charged Telegram founder Pavel Durov with aiding terrorist activities and placed him on an international wanted list, accusing the messaging platform of failing to remove content allegedly used by Ukrainian intelligence agencies and terrorist and extremist organisations.The charges come as Russian authorities continue to tighten restrictions on Telegram, one of the country's most widely used messaging platforms. The move is part of a broader campaign by the Kremlin to increase state control over the internet, which has intensified since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022.The FSB, Russia's main domestic security agency, alleged that Telegram's administration had failed to remove 'numerous channels, chats and bots' that were allegedly used by Ukrainian intelligence agencies and terrorist and extremist organisations to prepare and coordinate acts of sabotage, terrorism, mass killings and cyber fraud inside Russia, according to news agency Associated Press.