There is no consensus in the Kremlin about the detention of Pavel Durov - as well as about the fate of the telegram, to which officials "so far use"

The authorities converge in only one thing: "In Europe, freedom of speech is clamped"

The Kremlin political block has not yet decided how to respond to Pavel Durov’s detention in Paris. On the evening of August 26, the France police announced that the founder of Telegram is accused of "inaction in connection with financial and cybercrime, which are made using the platform."

However, while no one voiced detailed details of the charges, the “real reasons” of the detention are incomprehensible to the Russian elites. Press Secretary of Vladimir Putin Dmitry Peskov said that rumors about Durov’s meeting with the President of Russia in Baku, where both were last week, were not true, and added that we need to wait for the “clarification of the situation”.

Two Medusa sources close to the Kremlin call three versions that officials, businessmen and political technologists are most actively discussing :

Or the influence of the United States that needs Telegram in the context of the election - after all, Durov became close to the Republicans, and this is not like the Democratic Party. Or French claims due to Durov's contacts with Azerbaijan. Or the game of Durov himself.

The interlocutors themselves are not ready to talk about how true each of these versions is. According to one of them, Durov’s detention in itself caused fears about the safety of the messenger. “Maybe Durov to hand over something to the West? Yes, he could - he is not flint. We strained him about VKontakte - he quickly handed it over, ”explains a source close to the Kremlin.

Including, because of this, some Russian officials and security officials are already recommended to remove sensitive correspondence from Telegram-Baza telegram channel wrote about these recommendations. The same advice was given by RT editor Margarita Simonyan.

At the same time, according to a former federal official, at a “high level, telegrams have not been used for a long time as a means of reliable communication and something super confidential.” However, two political strategists working with the regional authorities, and two regional officials say that telegrams are actively using, including to communicate with AP authorities and the Presidential Plenipotentiaryies. One of the regional officials clarifies:

Of course, no one in Telegram sends important official documents, but some preliminary discussions of elected campaigns, and strategies-yes. Now, probably, they will send less. So far, everyone is using.

According to a political strategist close to the AP, who is engaged in media campaigns in Telegram, the detention of Pavel Durov can first of all hit the pro-government telegram channels:

Secret chats still look safe. But there are questions through the channels - in the theory of their admins and final beneficiaries can be calculated. No wonder Brief deleted his entire archive and renamed - this was already after Durov’s detention. The information placement market is also in question if it is possible to enter the customer.

This interlocutor of Medusa, as well as a source close to the government, and the regional official say that their attitude towards the messenger is already changing. The political strategist conducted an analogy with Viktor Bout , who returned to Russia during the exchange for basketball player Britney Grainer in December 2022, and before that he spent 12 years in an American prison:

Everything seems to be clear: he sat for his homeland, a patriot and so on. They gave him a way to public policy, but then somehow it doesn’t go further. “Viktor Alexandrych, we understand, respect, but ...” Where there is a great influence and a lot of money, they are not ready to see him - you never know what he said there was while sitting. So with Durov will be, most likely.

Since the Kremlin did not decide on the detention of Durov, the state and loyal authorities of the media did not receive full -fledged manuals to cover what is happening. “There is a line clear to everyone - in Europe, freedom of speech is clamped . As for Durov himself, there is no understandable line, ”says one of the employees of the state media.

That is why the statements dedicated to Pavel Durov have a different tone. For example, Margarita Simonyan and Dmitry Medvedev emphasize that the founder of Telegram did not begin to cooperate with the Russian authorities, so he received “serious problems”. And the New People party arranges stocks in support of Durov and calls on France to release him.

One of the state media employees who spoke with Medusa believes that a more homogeneous and clear reaction from the authorities will appear after some time:

Maybe clarity will be when Durov will present something specific and he will somehow speak out.

Andrey Pertsev