The Russian embassy in Paris today accused French authorities of “refusing to cooperate” with Moscow following the arrest in France of the founder and head of Telegram, Pavel Durov, who has, among other things, Russian citizenship.

“We immediately asked the French authorities to explain the reasons for this arrest and demanded that his rights be protected and that he be allowed access to consular services. So far, the French side still refuses to cooperate on the issue,” the Russian embassy in Paris complained, as reported by the Ria Novosti agency.

The embassy added that Russian diplomats are in contact with Durov’s lawyer.

Medvedev: “I had warned him”

For his part, former Russian President Dmitry Medvedev assessed today that Durov miscalculated by leaving Russia and believing that he would never be forced to cooperate with foreign security services.

Medvedev referred to a conversation he had with the Russian-born billionaire years ago, during which he told him that if he did not wish to cooperate with law enforcement agencies, then he would face problems in any country he went to.

The former Russian president pointed out that Durov wanted to be a “cosmopolitan who lives a nice life without a homeland.”

“He miscalculated,” Medvedev pointed out. “For our common enemies, he is now Russian and therefore unpredictable and dangerous.”

In 2014 Pavel Durov left Russia in self-imposed exile after refusing to share data of some Ukrainian VK users with Russia’s security service, the FSB.

“Durov should finally realize that no one can choose his homeland,” he concluded.

Faced with serious charges and up to 20 years in prison

Durov, 39, is expected to appear before a judge later today to face charges.

The French authority responsible for the prosecution of crimes against minors, OFMIN, had proceeded to issue a search warrant against him, as part of a preliminary investigation into various crimes through Telegram – from fraud to drug trafficking, online harassment, organized crime and even promoting of terrorism.

With newsgroups sometimes exceeding 200,000 members, the app has been accused of facilitating the spread of fake news, hate speech, neo-Nazi, conspiracy-minded content, and even the activities of pedophile rings and terrorist organizations.

In practice, the French justice accuses Pavel Durov of remaining idle (absence of any control, lack of cooperation with the prosecuting authorities) despite the illegal use of the platform by its subscribers.