Telegram is the only independent online platform to which The Kremlin has no questions and the authorities do not plan to either slow down or block. Russian officials stand up for Pavel Durov amid his arrest in France. What is the secret of such a change, After all, just a few years ago the messenger was blocked in Russia? The Dossier Center found out that in the presidential administration worried about the independent image of the messenger – and that’s why proposed proposed not to seek blocking of pro-Ukrainian channels after the start of a full-scale invasion of Ukraine. 
Having failed to defeat Telegram, the AP political bloc decided to take a dominant position in it, began to pour money into popular telegram channels and build his own network. We had to compete not only with liberal resources, but also with other pro-government groups – for example, with Margarita Simonyan, which bought up loyal AP bloggersfollows from the documents available to the Dossier. We found in them budgets for AP-controlled telegram channels – This tens of millions rubles monthly. Among such channels are “Nebozhena”, “Mediakiller”, “Knife” magazine and others.
Perhaps there is another reason why the Kremlin considers the messenger a controlled platform. Telegram claims that it does not cooperate with the authorities and does not maintain a team in Russia. As the Dossier Center found out, this is far from the truth. Many Key Telegram employees constantly traveled to Russia before the start of the war in Ukraine, and some permanently based in St. Petersburg – despite Pavel Durov’s statements that his entire team is abroad. Moreover, some of them may still live in Russia.
The Dossier Center tells the story of the Kremlin’s special attitude towards Telegram – and understands the reasons.
https://dossier.center/tg/ (with VPN)
How the Kremlin stopped being afraid and fell in love with Telegram
Propaganda, developers in Russia and questions regarding the security of the messenger
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