Russian Supreme Court’s appellate bench sides with FSB against instant messenger Telegram

It’s the end of the line for Telegram: the Russian Supreme Court’s appellate bench has upheld the Federal Security Service’s demands that the instant messenger surrender encryption keys for all correspondence sent over the messaging network.

The FSB gained this authority thanks to “anti-terrorist” legislation usually attributed to its most vocal supporter in the State Duma: Irina Yarovaya. In the fall of 2017, Telegram was fined 800,000 rubles (about $12,000, by today's exchange rate) for ignoring the FSB’s orders, and in April 2018 the federal censor started trying (mostly without success) to block the service in Russia.