Pavel Durov’s messenger is widely used by the Russian military for communication on the battlefield due to problems with the deployment of its own secure communication system. For the Russian Federation, it is also a tool for recruiting saboteurs and spreading propaganda.
Politico reports this.
Western media call the messenger the “chief of communications for the Russian military.”
A pro-Putin military blogger said Russian experts are working on an alternative to Telegram, but the Russian military’s Main Communications Directorate “has not shown any real interest” in putting such a system into service with Russian troops.
Also, Nazar Tokar, head of Kremlingram, a group of investigative activists investigating Telegram’s security and possible ties to the Kremlin, said: “The Russians do everything through Telegram. They recruit agents and people to counter today in Ukraine, a popular campaign to recruit people, who would burn Ukrainian military vehicles and with their help coordinate their military actions.”
While the Kremlin has restricted most other social media platforms, Telegram has not been banned or restricted, Tokar said. This despite the fact that Durov, by his own account, fled Russia in 2014 after the Kremlin demanded access to data from his former social network VKontakte about Ukrainian pro-democracy protesters who took part in the 2014 revolution.
According to Tokar, Telegram is much more important for Russia than for Ukraine. That is why Russians are panicking and trying to predict possible outcomes if the messenger’s creator is sentenced to prison. In addition, Russian intelligence services are trying to protect themselves or extract information from it.
However, it will all depend on the French government and the courts: whether they will jail Durov or reach a deal and release him.
