Report: Pres aide says Durov to have to liaise with government

MOSCOW, Jan 12 (PRIME) -- Pavel Durov, a founder of Russian social network VKontakte, who quit the country and created messenger Telegram, will be forced to cooperate with the government, German Klimenko, Russian presidential aide on the Internet, told the Russian News Service radio station late Monday during a broadcast.

“Durov will be obliged to cooperate with the U.S., Germany and France, because there is no choice. No state will stand an unprotected messenger on its territory, to which special services have no access. It’s unavoidable,” Klimenko said.

“Pavel (Durov) is running heavy risks. I’m confused when he starts playing politics, but there are evident things: any state fighting terrorism should have the right of access. By undertaking a political function, Pavel takes responsibility; he is a programmer, but tries to go into politics. I’m sure that his product won’t suffer if he befriends law enforcement agencies.”

Perpetrators and terrorists use Internet for their activities. In November 2015, Telegram blocked 78 channels related to the Islamic State’s (ISIS) terrorists. Telegram said then that its channels are open and accessible for all; any user can inform the messenger’s administration of illegal content.

Klimenko said that Google’s e-mail service Gmail and social network Facebook refuse to cooperate with law enforcement agencies.

“Gmail confirms that it answers 32,000 questions a year to the U.S. law bodies and none from ours. Here lies a reason for the discord. We see no issues in politics, but there is an issue of Gmail declining any cooperation with law enforcement agencies while being on a foreign territory. Skype cooperates, for example, while Facebook is reluctant,” Klimenko said.

The main condition of allowing foreign social networks to work in Russia should be their consent to liaise with law enforcement agencies, the presidential aide said.

Earlier a number of countries, including Iran and Saudi Arabia, blocked the work of Telegram on their territories.

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