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Russia's federal censor sues to block Telegram

Russia’s federal censor, Roskomnadzor, has filed a lawsuit asking Moscow’s Tagansky District Court to block the popular instant messenger Telegram for violations of Russia’s information laws and for refusing to provide the Federal Security Service with the keys to decode all user correspondence.

Pavel Chikov, a lawyer for the “Agora” human rights group, which is representing Telegram, says the company’s position remains unchanged. “The FSB’s demands to provide access to users’ private correspondence are unconstitutional, legally unfounded, technically and legally unenforceable, and blocking the service is therefore unreasonable,” Chikov said on Friday.

Roskomnadzor previously gave Telegram until April 4 to comply with the FSB’s orders. The messenger’s representatives insist that Telegram’s core design means it doesn’t have access to its encryption keys, which are stored on users’ own devices. In December 2017, the service was fined 800,000 rubles ($13,840) for refusing to comply with Russia’s new anti-terrorist laws.

Photo on the front page: Sergey Konkov / TASS / Scanpix / LETA