Telegram founder Pavel Durov poisoned during 2018 – Business News
Telegram founder Pavel Durov suspected that he was poisoned by a “weird neighbor” in 2018 during an assassination attempt that rendered him unable to stroll for weeks.
The billionaire CEO saved the shocking revelation a secret for practically a decade as a result of he was within the course of of developing a blockchain to be appropriate together with his messaging website, and feared any phrase of his health would trigger issues.
“That was the only instant in my life that I thought I was dying,” Durov instructed podcaster Lex Fridman on Monday.
Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov seems on the Lex Fridman Podcast on Sept. 30, 2025. Lex Clips / YouTube
Durov mentioned he and his older brother had been developing the digital ledger by way of the project TON, and raised over $1.7 billion in three months and Telegram had been banned in Russia and Iran when he was allegedly poisoned.
The 40-year-old Russian social media boss had arrived back at his rented townhouse, the place he lived alone, when he discovered one thing his “weird neighbor” had left him on the door.
“One hour after, when I was already in my bed, I felt very bad. I felt pain all over my body,” he mentioned. “I tried to get up and go to the bathroom. But while I was going there, I felt the functions of my body started to switch off.”
He claimed he misplaced his eyesight and listening to earlier than he started having hassle respiratory.
“Everything accompanied by very acute pain,” Durov mentioned. “Heart, stomach, all blood vessels. It’s difficult to explain, but one thing I was certain about was, ‘yeah, this is it.’”
Pavel Durov delivers a keynote speech during the Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, Spain, on Feb. 23, 2016. REUTERS
A demonstrator holds up an image of Pavel Durov during a protest in Saint Petersburg, Russia, on May 1, 2018. AFP through Getty Images
Durov, who claimed to have excellent health, believed he was dying as he was left immobilized.
“I couldn’t breathe, I couldn’t see anything, was very painful. I thought it was over,” he mentioned. “I thought, ‘Well, I had a good life. Managed to accomplish a few things. Then I collapsed on the floor.”
He awoke on the ground the following day, however mentioned he couldn’t stand up as a result of he felt “super weak” and found that his blood vessels throughout his physique had been “broken.”
“Something like this never happened to me,” he mentioned. “I couldn’t walk for two weeks after.”
Durov remained inside his home and was silent about his medical emergency, retaining his workforce out of the loop as a result of he didn’t need them to fret.
The tech entrepreneur co-founded the Russian social networking website VK in 2006 earlier than leaving and beginning up the messaging app Telegram in 2013.
Telegram has been utilized by each side of the Russia-Ukraine War, with officers sending time-sensitive messages out to residents and important info to the entrance strains.
Ukrainian President Volodymr Zelensky makes use of the messaging app to ship updates to the Ukrainian residents.
The Telegram icon seems on a smartphone in Frankfurt, Germany on April 17, 2018. EPA
Pavel Durov co-founded the Russian social networking website VK in 2006 earlier than leaving and beginning up the messaging app Telegram in 2013. @durov/Instagram
His work has been focused by world governments attempting to impose restrictions on the content material in an assault on free speech.
In August 2024, he was arrested after stepping off a airplane in France and charged within the nation’s investigation into Telegram’s illicit actions.
Law enforcement alleged Telegram’s lack of moderation and the instruments it provides, akin to cryptocurrencies, make it complicit in international drug trafficking, pedophilia and fraud.
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Durov was arrested on a search warrant as soon as he stepped onto French soil.
He was charged with 12 counts within the case and positioned on a judicial supervision, unable to go away France for months.
The billionaire renegotiated his release circumstances in March and is eligible to go away the nation for up to 2 weeks.
A photograph of Russian President Vladimir Putin is crossed out during a protest for Russian opposition chief Alexei Navalny on May 5, 2018 AFP through Getty Images
Durov claimed his alleged poisoning made him view life with further gratitude for his on a regular basis schedule.
“If anything, I felt even more free after that,” he mentioned. “After you survive something like this, you feel like you’re living on bonus time. In a way, you died a long time ago and every new day you get is a gift.”
Investigative reporter Christo Grozev believes Durov confirmed all of the indicators of a nerve-agent poisoning, that occurred across the identical time because the tried assassination of Sergei Skripal.
The Russian army officer and British double agent was within the United Kingdom on March 4, 2018 together with his daughter once they had been poisoned by high-ranking Russian army officers.
Experts imagine Soviet Union-based nerve agent A-234 was used on the father-daughter duo, who survived the assault.
