Tech visionary, Kremlin dissident, FSB agent, free speech absolutist, healthcare guru. These are just some of the labels that fans and critics have attached to him. Pavel Durov over the last decade.
The Russian-born tech entrepreneur founded the Russian version of Facebook before creating the messaging app Telegram, launching a cryptocurrency ecosystem and amassing a multibillion-dollar fortune while constantly clashing with authorities in Russia and beyond.
But much of Durov's real story—and the logic that drives him—remains unclear.
A new biography aims to change that.
The magazine Populist, by independent Russian writer Nikolai Kononov, traces the 41-year-old's journey from the scientific protégé of a St. Petersburg schoolboy to the founder of Telegram, one of the most influential communications platforms in the world, with more than a billion users.
Kononov describes book as the result of 14 years of trying to map Durov's strategy and worldview, drawing on conversations with Durov himself and people who worked with him, as well as with rivals and critics.
The title of the book, he says, refers to a thread running through Durov's entire life: his desire to directly address millions of Telegram users, which allows him to bypass institutions, the press and any system of representation.
“Durov is one of the first digital populists,” Kononov said in an interview, explaining that “from the very beginning, as soon as he started making his digital products, he programmed them with the ability to write and convey his ideas directly to the audience.”
Both VKontakte, Durov's first venture, and Telegram occasionally sent messages from Durov directly to all users, including users who had not given their consent, expounding his libertarian worldview.
“He considers himself a visionary. And obviously wants to be heard,” the author said.
This strategy helped realize Durov's main promise – almost absolute freedom of expression – even as Telegram became a popular tool for dissidents, extremists, scammers and war propagandists.
While Durov's public brand is built on libertarianism, Kononov says his private management style points to the opposite: power concentrated in the hands of one man with little check.
“Basically, he is the only one who makes all product decisions at Telegram,” Kononov said. “Marketing, PR is a one-man show.”
The portrait he paints is of a technology founder whose worldview has remained unshaken over the years, remaining most comfortable within an ultra-libertarian, anti-institutional strand of the right that is often misogynistic and sometimes conspiratorial.
“What surprised me most was that Durov had not changed or changed in all the years that I interviewed him,” Kononov said.
Durov is no exception, Kononov writes, but is part of a broader new wave of tycoons (most notably in the US) who combine technological dominance with an excessive sense of personal mythology and a deep suspicion of government restrictions.
Like Elon Musk, Peter Thiel and Jeff Bezos, he has shown great interest in longevity science and also pronatalismthe belief that having as many children as possible is a social or civilizational duty.
According to Kononov, Durov does not drink or use drugs, regularly gives spartan health advice – often accompanied by shirtless photos of him – and says he has gave birth to dozens of children thanks to sperm donation.
One of the most powerful sections of the book reveals for the first time Durov's tense early meeting with President Vladimir Putin in 2014, which took place behind closed doors.
Kononov writes that Durov described the meeting as a one-sided conversation in which the Kremlin leader reprimanded him for illegal content on VKontakte and invited Durov to leave the country.
Under pressure from the authorities, Durov sold his stake in VKontakte left Russia and eventually settled in Dubai, where he founded Telegram.
But the most obvious trace against Durov in recent years, Kononov suggests, came not from Russia, but from France.
Durov, who also has French citizenship, was detained and was held for three days in France last August as part of an investigation into crimes related to Telegram, including the distribution of child sexual abuse images, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions.
His detention came as a shock to the tech mogul. In interviews conducted in Paris after his arrest, Durov described to Kononov a difficult, disorienting ordeal – a constantly lit cell and little sleep – that alarmed a man who had spent years isolating himself from the reach of the state.
It also appears to have sharpened his hostility towards the West. Kononov says Durov now imagines Europe as sliding toward “total digital control” and increasingly conspiratorial rhetoric.
More recently, Durov appeared to endorse a conspiracy theory promoted by far-right blogger Candace Owens, suggesting that Paris was behind the murder of Charlie Kirk.
“What interests me about Durov is that, on the one hand, he clearly has a very high IQ,” Kononov said. “But at the same time, he is prone to conspiracy theories.”
However, Kononov is adamant that Durov's views should not be confused with formal political views.
One of the most persistent allegations against Durov is that he has secret ties to the Russian security services.
But Kononov said his investigation found no evidence that Durov was working with or on behalf of the Russian state. “It has a huge number of shortcomings – but it’s not a sin that Telegram acts as a backdoor for the FSB,” Kononov said.
Kononov argues that Durov eventually learned the need to compromise—with both Russian and Western authorities—when it served his interests and allowed Telegram to continue operating.
Kononov recalls how Durov once told him: “I never waste time on things that are not needed or that cannot be useful to me personally.” This self-serving thinking, according to Kononov, ultimately ended their personal relationship.
About a year ago, a writer asked Durov whether he saw a contradiction between Telegram's highly centralized, almost authoritarian internal structure and its apparent commitment to freedom of expression. After that, Durov stopped answering.
“He quickly realized that he wouldn’t like this book,” Kononov said.
