Russian President Vladimir Putin, answering questions from participants of the Eastern Economic Forum, said that he once met with the founder of Telegram Pavel Durov. According to RBC, this happened in Moscow.
"I met with Mr. Durov once in Moscow many years ago, he just talked about his plans — I meet with business regularly. And so he was also at one of the meetings, it was in the Kremlin, I don't remember when, but many years ago," Putin said.
The head of state also denied rumors that he had met with Durov a few days before the businessman's detention in Paris. Then they were in Baku at the same time: the head of Telegram was on a private visit, and Putin was on a state visit.
"We have never maintained contacts with him, why should we meet in Baku? I didn't even know he was there. I generally assumed that he lives in Moscow," Putin stressed.
Commenting on possible future meetings, the Russian leader suggested that if Durov had such a desire, Putin would have found time in his schedule, but he also does not know anything about the desire of the billionaire himself.
Speaking about the very fact of the criminal prosecution of the founder of the messenger, Putin noted that Russia has no claims against Telegram. At the same time, many other countries have them, which is due to the popularity of the application among people and structures "that can cause damage by their activities." At the same time, according to the president, "all platforms of this kind are guilty of this," and since the French authorities decided to prosecute Durov, then "it is necessary to do the same with others."