- Telegram has rejected allegations of potential ties to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB)
- According to a new study, telegram’s server network can be checked by a man whose companies have links to Russian intelligence services
- Telegram is one of the few social platforms still available in Russia
Telegram has rejected recent accusations that the popular Messaging app may have ties to Russian intelligence services.
This comes as a study conducted by the Russian independent exploration output Important stories (istories) claim to have found evidence suggesting that Telegram’s server infrastructure is under control of a man whose companies have links to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).
While Telegram has not issued any public response at the time of writing, the company’s spokesman Remi Vaughn told Techradar: “All telegram servers are owned by telegram and maintained by telegram employees. Unauthorized access to any data is impossible.”
It is worth mentioning that telegram is one of the few online platforms that are not blocked in Russia, which means that citizens can access it without using one of the best VPN services.
What does the study say?
According to the ILIKY investigation – which was supported by the organized crime and corruption reporting project (OCCRP) – managed over 10,000 IP addresses in Telegram’s technical infrastructure of a company registered in Antigua and Barbuda called Global Network Management (GNM).
According to documents from a Florida Court case that is accessed by Ishories -Journalists, the owner of this company is a Russian network engineer named Vladimir Vedeev, who allegedly told the court that he had been involved in the installation of Telegram Messenger and further technical support.
Florida’s court documents seem to reveal more details about the relationship between LOVEEEEV and Pavel Durov, Telegram’s founder and CEO. This includes Vedeev, who tells the court, “He had the power of attorney to sign documents on behalf of Pavel Durov and on behalf of Telegram.”
Telegram also reportedly operates 5,000 IP addresses provided by another Skt. Petersburg-based company, Electrontelcom, which istories said to have found proof of being an FSB contractor.
New: Messaging App Telegram has a reputation for security-but @iries_eng found that its technical infrastructure is driven by a man whose businesses work closely with Russian intelligence services. Meet the slightly known engineer in the center: https://t.co/zmaq5jpc1vJune 10, 2025
Things are getting even more intricate as the Ishories study claims that the Vedeev is also the founder of Globalnet, a larger Russian backbone comer who allegedly controlled telegrams IP addresses, now administered by GNM, until 2020.
“But Globalnet is not just a network provider. Among its clients is the most important research computer center for the President’s Property Management Department for Russia (Glavnivts). Officially, this organization provides technical support to President Putin’s public ‘direct line’ questions and response events, summits and other high-level meetings,” claims Desstories.
In 2022, Globalnet launched the first filter and traffic monitoring systems based on Deep Packet Inspection (DPI) at the request of Roskomnadzor, the Russian Internet Guard Dog, which is tasked with enforcing online constraints.
What does telegram say?
As mentioned earlier, telegram rejects these accusations.
In a written comment sent to Techradar, Telegram’s spokesman Remi Vaughn said: “As a global company, Telegram has contracts with dozens of various service providers around the world. However, none of these service providers have access to telegram data or sensitive infrastructure.
“All telegram servers belong to Telegram and are maintained by Telegram -Employees. Unauthorized access to any data is impossible. Throughout its story, telegram never revealed any private messages to a third party -and its encryption has never been violated.”
An answer that, according to Ishories -In journalists, “contradicts facts created in an American court.”
Is telegram safe to use?
Launched in 2013, Telegram markets itself “as a messaging app focusing on speed and security.”
Its founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, is a Russian-born billionaire, popular with free expression fighters to refuse to give away telegram’s user identities for law enforcement requests.
Some countries have blocked access to telegram over the years for this reason, with France emitting an arrest warrant against him for illegal activities that took place on the platform. Still, the company is one of the few mainstream -Online platforms that are still available in Russia at the time of writing.
That said, telegram does not offer the same level of security as signal and whatsapp, which encrypts all messages and calls by default. On the contrary, only Telegram’s secret chats are encrypted to end to end, and users need to actively turn on this extra protection.
When we talk to istoriies, Michał “Rysiek” Woźniak, a security specialist who used to work for OCCRP as head of infrastructure and information security warns that this system could leave users vulnerable to tracking, even if their messages remain inaccessible.
He said, “If I know your device’s ‘AUTH_KEY_ID’ and I can listen to the network that handles the data … I know it’s your specific device that communicates with telegram servers. By looking at the network packages … I also get your IP address at a given time that tells me your rough geographical location.”
According to Woźniak, this can be a real problem if Russian intelligence services actually have access to telegram traffic. “A tool for global monitoring of messenger users, no matter where they are and which serve they are connecting to.”
Whether a connection between Telegram and the Russian FSB has not yet been confirmed, the study still emphasizes that the protection of the content of communication is not enough, as metadata privacy life is also. I invite anyone who is concerned about their privacy to use solutions that minimize exposure to metadata, such as signal and session.
