France must provide substantial evidence to prove that the arrest of Pavel Durov, the founder and chief executive of messaging app Telegram, was not “politically motivated”, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Tuesday.

At a press conference in Moscow, Peskov described the French authorities’ accusations as “very serious”, stressing the need for equal essential elements.

“Otherwise, this would be a direct attempt to limit freedom of communication and, frankly, an act of intimidation against the head of a large company. This is exactly the kind of political maneuver that (French President Emmanuel) Macron denied just yesterday,” he said.

Macron argued on Monday that Durov’s detention was due to an ongoing investigation and was not politically motivated.

Peskov noted that while Russia is ready to help Durov, the situation is complicated from the fact that he has French citizenship.

“We hope that Mr. Durov has all the necessary means to organize his legal defense,” he added.

Amid concerns that the communications of Russian public figures could be intercepted by Western intelligence agencies if Durov cooperates, the Kremlin spokesman advised officials not to use messaging apps for official purposes.

“No app is safe in terms of information security, including Telegram,” he warned.