UPDATE 4: Putin spokesman: Other service to be used if Telegram blocked

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MOSCOW, Jun 26 (PRIME) -- A looming blocking of messenger Telegram is no question of the Kremlin, but if the service is blocked, the president’s press service will choose another messenger, President Vladimir Putin’s press secretary Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

“This is not our business. You’re well aware that (head of the communications service Alexander) Zharov is dealing with the matter, and it’s the issue of the norms stipulated by our laws. If services of this messenger are ultimately unavailable, we’ll switch to another messenger. We’ll see which is more convenient. There is competition here, meaning choice,” Peskov said.

Durov says blocking won’t help war on terror

Telegram’s founder Pavel Durov said earlier on Monday on its VKontakte page that a potential blocking of Telegram by Russian authorities will not become an obstacle for terrorists and drug dealers as they will find tens of other services.

“Head of the Russian communications service said that Telegram should provide special services with ‘deciphering keys’ to allow them to read correspondence of users and catch terrorists. This demand not only contradicts the article 23 of the Russian Constitution on privacy of correspondence, but also reveals ignorance of how communication is encoded in 2017,” Durov said.

“In 2017, exchange in secret information is based on final encoding, to which owners of messengers don’t have and cannot have ‘deciphering keys’. These keys are stored only on devices of users themselves. Although Telegram pioneered the technology, final encoding today is used by popular messengers, including WhatsApp, Viber, iMessage, and even Facebook Messenger.”

Zharov, director of the Federal Service for Supervision of Communications, Information Technology, and Mass Media, called publicly on Telegram on June 23 to respect law to avoid blocking.

The authority wants Telegram to fill in a special form with all the required information about the company, which manages the messenger, and submit it to the service for being added to the register of organizers of information distribution.

Durov told Zharov then that Russia would not win from the possible blocking of the service in the light of the U.S.’ control over other messengers, and correspondence of Russian officials and their communication would flow to the U.S.-controlled clouds Apple iCloud/Google Drive via WhatsApp and Viber.

Telegram’s founder said that the potential blocking will not make the task more difficult for terrorists and drug dealers thanks to abundance of other messengers run on virtual private networks (VPN). “No country in the world has blocked all similar messengers or VPN services. It will require closure of the Internet to defeat terrorism via blockings,” Durov said.

“Unfortunately, communications media like Telegram or WhatsApp could not become insecure only for potential terrorists. Encoding of these services either secures all users equally, or puts them all under threat. A refusal from final encoding in a country makes tens of millions of people vulnerable for hacker attacks and blackmail of venal officials,” Durov said on his VKontakte page.

Weaker encoding in all messengers will undermine national security as a whole, because foreign special services will get access to correspondence of Russian citizens. “At that, a risk of terrorist attacks won’t disappear, because recent events in Paris showed that one-time phones and common SMSs without any cyphering are enough for committing a terrorist attack,” Durov said.

The Federal Security Service said earlier that terrorists use most frequently Telegram to get in touch with each other on the territory of Russia and their curators abroad. The messenger was used during preparation of an April terrorist attack in the St. Petersburg underground, which claimed lives of 16 people.

“The time of appearing of information that three months ago Telegram was allegedly used raises questions. It’s sad that special services of Russia exploit such a tragedy as a pretext for strengthening their influence and control over people,” Durov said.

On June 25, Zharov told NTV television channel that the watchdog is not ready to close Telegram “tomorrow”, but a response from Durov is being expected within several days.

If Durov agrees to respect the law, the authority will add Telegram to the register of organizers of information distribution, Zharov said, adding that special services have repeatedly said that Telegram is one of the main channels of communication for terrorists.

Presidential aide sees non-cooperation as vulnerable

Presidential aide for the Internet German Klimenko said he finds Telegram’s legal footing in the dispute vulnerable, because the messenger neglects the law and a dialogue with the authority.

“The whole business model of Telegram is based on negation of any form of cooperation (with authorities). There is a dialogue with other messengers, including Viber, WhatsApp and other, despite sanctions, strained relations with the Americans and other factors,” Klimenko said.

“It’s impossible to hold a dialogue with Pavel (Durov), because Pavel has, probably, the most vulnerable position in terms of law. He cooperates with nobody.”

Officials like Telegram

Government sources to9ld PRIME that Telegram has become an integral part of life of officials, who use the messenger more for private communication rather than work.

According to Telegram, it has 6.5–7 million active users in the country, or 8% of the messenger’s audience.

A source in a ministry said that after scandalous disclosures of private correspondence of Russian officials by hacker group Anonymous International, also known as Shaltai Boltai almost all members of the Russian government have switched to Telegram.

“After several loud cases with Shaltai, everyone, including ministers and deputy ministers, started using Telegram. Just a few are still with other messengers. The main requirement is anonymity, as all officials are afraid of having their correspondence compromised,” the source said.

Government members often use secret chats with self-destruct timers. Many ministries use Telegram to build the management system, and some officials are in the network almost round o’clock, the source said.

Other sources said that Telegram is used by officials for private correspondence. “Top secret information is certainly not shared via Telegram,” they said, adding that officials use safe connection channels for sensitive information.

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