Telegram's founders are in exile from Russia after the Russian government took over their previous venture (Vkontakte). It is misinformation to associate Telegram with the Russian government.
Nikolai Durov lives in Saint Petersburg and works for the Russian Academy of Sciences. Pavel Durov had visited Russia multiple time since his "exile".
The public-facing story around Telegram is performative PR, which could be explained by the exact reasons listed in the parent comments: association with the Russian state had hindered VK growth besides the CIS region.
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Telegram's founders are in exile from Russia after the Russian government took over their previous venture (Vkontakte). It is misinformation to associate Telegram with the Russian government.
Nikolai Durov lives in Saint Petersburg and works for the Russian Academy of Sciences. Pavel Durov had visited Russia multiple time since his "exile".
The public-facing story around Telegram is performative PR, which could be explained by the exact reasons listed in the parent comments: association with the Russian state had hindered VK growth besides the CIS region.
I can't verify this anywhere. The latest information appears to be that Nikolai Durov lives in Dubai.
Wikipedia quotes https://www.bbc.com/russian/articles/cdjwm9eew0xo , which uses this article as a source: https://www.kommersant.ru/doc/6920516