Tech

Pavel Durov

Refused the FSB's demands, lost his company, left Russia — and funded Telegram from his own pocket.

Born: 1984 · Leningrad, USSR (now St. Petersburg, Russia)
Roots: Russian; partly raised in Turin; later a citizen of St. Kitts, the UAE, and France
Family: Middle class; His father is a professor of philology; part of his childhood was spent in Italy during his father's posting.
Education: St. Petersburg State University (philology)
Started with: A university forum; Built student forums before VKontakte; his mathematician brother Nikolai wrote the code.
Affiliations & societies: None documented.; Information only — claims like these are often unverifiable and may be wrong.

The pathway

2006 · age 21
Founds VKontakte
With his brother Nikolai, a two-time gold medalist of the International Mathematical Olympiad; it becomes Russia's largest social network.
2011 · age 27
Refuses to block opposition pages
Responds to a Kremlin demand by posting a photo of a dog in a hoodie.
2013 · age 28
Telegram
Launched with Nikolai as pressure on VK grows; Pavel funds the servers personally for years.
2014 · age 29
Refuses the FSB~$300M
Declines to hand over data on Ukrainian Euromaidan users; is forced out of VK and leaves Russia, reportedly with ~$300M from selling his stake.
2018 · age 33
Russia tries to ban Telegram
The two-year block fails and is lifted in 2020.
2024 · age 39
Arrested in France
Detained over platform-moderation charges and released on bail; Telegram reports nearly a billion users.

Sources

Compiled from these references and contemporaneous press reporting. Figures are approximate; verify before relying on them.