1. Pavel Valeryevich Durov is a Russian technology entrepreneur best known as the founder and chief executive officer of Telegram, a messaging platform launched in 2013.
41 Facts About Pavel Durov
1. 2.
Pavel Durov left VK in 2014 following disputes with the company's new owners and increased pressure from Russian authorities, which led him to leave the country.
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In 2013, he and his older brother, Nikolai Pavel Durov, developed Telegram, and in 2017, they moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where its headquarters are now located.
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Pavel Durov's fortune is largely driven by his ownership of Telegram.
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Pavel Durov publicly stands for Internet freedom and criticises the establishment that tries to restrict it.
6.
On 24 August 2024, Pavel Durov was arrested by French police on criminal charges relating to an alleged lack of content moderation on Telegram and refusal to work with police, which allegedly allowed the spread of criminal activities.
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Pavel Durov was born on 10 October 1984 in Leningrad, Russian SFSR, Soviet Union.
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Pavel Durov later studied at Saint Petersburg State University, where his father worked.
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Pavel Durov served in the 65th Infantry Division of the Soviet Red Army, participated in battles on the Leningrad Front at Krasnoborsky and Gatchinsky, and was wounded three times, receiving the Order of the Red Star, the Order of the Patriotic War 2nd degree, and on the 40th Victory Day, the Order of the Great Patriotic War 1st degree.
10.
Pavel Durov's father Valery Semenovich Pavel Durov is a Doctor of Philological Sciences and the author of academic papers.
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Pavel Durov became chief executive officer and attracted his older brother Nikolai, a multiple winner of international math and programming competitions including the International Mathematical Olympiad, to develop the site.
12.
In 2011, he was involved in a standoff with the police in Saint Petersburg when the government demanded the removal of opposition politicians' pages after the 2011 election to the Duma; Pavel Durov posted a picture of a dog with its tongue out wearing a hoodie, and the police left after an hour when he did not answer the door.
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In 2012, Pavel Durov publicly posted a picture of himself extending his middle finger and calling it his official response to Mail.
14.
On 1 April 2014, Pavel Durov submitted his resignation to the VK board; at first there was confusion about the veracity of his resignation.
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However, Pavel Durov himself said it was an April Fool's Joke on 3 April 2014.
16.
On 16 April 2014, Pavel Durov publicly refused to hand over the personal data of Ukrainian protesters against pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych to Russia's Federal Security Service and to block Alexei Navalny's page on VK.
17.
On 21 April 2014, Pavel Durov was dismissed as CEO of VK.
18.
Pavel Durov said it was acting on his letter of resignation a month earlier that he failed to recall.
19.
Pavel Durov then said the company had been effectively taken over by Vladimir Putin's allies, suggesting his ouster was the result of both his refusal to hand over personal details of users to federal law enforcement and his refusal to hand over the personal details of people who were members of a VK group dedicated to the Euromaidan protest movement.
20.
Pavel Durov then left Russia and stated that he had "no plans to go back" and that "the country is incompatible with internet business at the moment".
21.
In January 2018, Pavel Durov announced that, in a bid to monetize the growing success of Telegram, he was launching the "Gram" cryptocurrency and the Telegram Open Network platform.
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Pavel Durov said that Telegram became profitable for the first time in 2024, with total revenue over $1 billion.
23.
Pavel Durov was arrested on 24 August 2024 at Le Bourget Airport by officers from France's anti-fraud office, which is attached to the French customs authority.
24.
Pavel Durov was arrested upon exiting his private jet after landing in France from Azerbaijan.
25.
Pavel Durov's arrest was based on an arrest warrant issued by the French judicial police as part of a preliminary investigation in relation to 12 suspected violations regarding crime on the Telegram platform.
26.
Reports indicate that Pavel Durov was on the list of individuals wanted by French authorities, and his arrest was because of his alleged failure to cooperate with judicial officials, including issues related to Telegram's activities.
27.
Natalia Krapiva, a lawyer at the digital rights group Access Now, said that French authorities could try to force Pavel Durov to provide Telegram's encryption keys to decrypt private messages, "which Russia has already tried to do in the past".
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Pavel Durov was targeted as the governments were concerned about the usage of Telegram app by pro-democracy activists and dissidents.
29.
Pavel Durov moved to the United Arab Emirates in 2017 and lives in Dubai, where Telegram headquarters are located.
30.
Pavel Durov was naturalized as an Emirati citizen in February 2021.
31.
Pavel Durov was naturalized as a French citizen in August 2021, giving him European Union citizenship.
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Le Monde described the naturalisation as "mysterious", since Pavel Durov had not resided in France apart from brief visits.
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Le Monde suggested that Pavel Durov was naturalised via the rarely used "merit foreigner" procedure that is awarded directly by the French government to people viewed to have contributed exceptionally to France's international influence or international economic relations.
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Pavel Durov officially changed the French version of his name to Paul du Rove.
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Pavel Durov met Bondarenko while studying at university; as of 2021, she was living in Barcelona.
36.
Pavel Durov alleged that Durov abused her youngest son five times between 2021 and 2022, and that Durov stopped seeing their children in September 2022.
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Pavel Durov has practiced intermittent fasting and abstains from alcohol, caffeine and recreational drugs.
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Pavel Durov has said he maintains an ascetic lifestyle and promotes freedom from personal possessions.
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In 2024, Pavel Durov said that Telegram should remain a "neutral platform" and not "a player in geopolitics".
40.
Pavel Durov has been described as the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia for founding the social networking site VK, which is similar to Facebook.
41.
In February 2023, Pavel Durov was named the most powerful entrepreneur in Dubai by Arabian Business.