Is it illegal to pay for Telegram Premium in Russia now that Pavel Durov is on the terrorism list? Not yet.

1Why isn’t it dangerous for Russians to use Telegram Premium?Paying for Telegram Premium isn’t considered a criminal offense (at least not yet) because Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service, known as Rosfinmonitoring, added Pavel Durov personally to its list. There is no court ruling designating the messaging app itself as an extremist or terrorist organization.Adding Durov to Russia’s registry of terrorists and extremists imposes restrictions solely on him and on his personal bank accounts within the country. Payments for digital services, by contrast, flow into the company’s accounts — a distinct legal entity — rather than to Durov himself, a distinction that makes it impossible to equate a subscription purchase with, say, the financing of terrorism.Danger for users could arise only if Russian authorities designate Telegram itself as an extremist organization and ban it, as happened with Meta, according to Natalia Sekretareva, head of the legal department at the Memorial Human Rights Defense Center. She said:Information about a ban on an organization is always entered into the registers of extremist and terrorist organizations maintained by the Justice Ministry and the FSB, respectively. At present, Telegram is not banned and does not appear on either list.For now, crudely speaking, the messaging app can be regarded only as a “tool” that Durov provided to “wrongdoers” for committing crimes — the same way a kitchen knife used to kill someone is considered a murder weapon.I say “for now” because Russia is a land of opportunity. The situation could change.By the evening of July 30, Rosfinmonitoring itself confirmed that no restrictions apply to the messaging app.There’s little cause for concern at present. Still, anyone in Russia contemplating a personal transfer to Durov should reconsider. If you do, the transfer — and then your account — will likely be blocked. If the money reaches him anyway, you could face criminal charges. Under a law on financing extremist activity, the penalty is up to eight years in prison, or up to 10 years for abuse of an official position. A separate law on aiding terrorist activity allows for up to 15 years in prison. Authorities also advise against sending Telegram “Stars” to posts on Durov’s personal channel.At Meduza, we are committed to transparency about our use of artificial intelligence in the newsroom. The story you’re reading was written by one of our living, breathing journalists and translated from Russian using an AI model configured to follow our strict editorial standards. This translation process is the result of extensive testing and refinements to ensure our English-language coverage is timely and accurate. A Meduza editor reviews every draft before publication.If you find any errors in this translation, please contact us at [email protected].To read Meduza’s exclusive content in English, please subscribe to our newsletter.