Washington is behind the arrest of Telegram platform CEO and founder Pavel Durov in France, said the speaker of the Russian Duma, the lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin. on Monday on the Telegram messaging app.

Without providing details, Volodin said the United States, through France, tried to exercise control over Telegram.

“Telegram is one of the few and at the same time the largest Internet platforms on which the United States has no influence,” Volodin said in a post. “On the eve of the US presidential election, it is important for (President Joe Biden) to get Telegram under control.”

At the same time, a source of the French prosecution authorities said that the pre-trial detention in France of the billionaire Pavel Durov, a citizen of Russia and France, is extended until at least Wednesday, as he faces twelve charges related to organized crime.

Mr Durov was arrested on Saturday night at Bourges airport, near Paris, and remanded in custody. French justice accuses him of standing idle while various illegal actions were committed by subscribers to his platform. He is accused in particular of a lack of control and cooperation with the prosecuting authorities.

His company, based in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, called the accusations against him “absurd”.