- Telegram has rejected accusations of possible ties with the Federal Security Service of Russia (FSB)
- According to new research, the Telegram servers network can be controlled by a man whose companies have links to Russian intelligence services
- Telegram is one of the few social platforms that are still available in Russia
Telegram has rejected recent accusations that the application of popular messaging can have ties with Russian intelligence services.
This occurs when an investigation carried out by the Russian Independent Research Departure (ISTORIES) claims to have found evidence that suggests that the Telegram server infrastructure is under the control of a man whose companies have links to the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia.
While Telegram has not issued any public response when writing this article, the company’s spokesman, Remi Vaughn, told Techradar: “All Telegram servers are owned by Telegram and maintained by Telegram employees. Not authorized access to any data is impossible.”
It is worth mentioning that Telegram is one of the few online platforms that is not blocked in Russia, which means that citizens can access it without using one of the best VPN services.
What does research say?
According to Istories investigation, which was supported by the crime and corruption report project of Crimination (ECCRP), more than 10,000 IP addresses within the Telegram technical infrastructure are administered by a company registered in Antigua and Barbuda called Global Network Management (GNM).
According to the documents of a Florida judicial case accessed by the reporters of Istories, the owner of this company is a Russian network engineer called Vladimir Vedeneev, who allegedly told the court that he had been involved in the installation of Telegram Messenger and greater technical support.
Florida’s judicial documents seem to reveal more details of the relationship between Vedeneev and Pavel Durov, founder and CEO of Telegram. This includes Vedeneev telling the Court: “I had the power to sign documents on behalf of Pavel Durov and on behalf of Telegram.”
According to reports, Telegram also operates 5,000 IP addresses provided by another company based in St. Petersburg, Electrontelecom, which is said to find evidence of a FSB contractor.
New: The Telegram messaging application has a safety reputation, but @istors_eng discovered that its technical infrastructure is directed by a man whose companies collaborate closely with Russian intelligence services. Mienza the little known engineer in the center: https://t.co/zmaq5jpc1v1vJune 10, 2025
Things become even more intricate as Istories’s investigation states that Vedeneev is also the founder of Globalnet, an important Russian telecommunications operator, which allegedly controlled Telegram IP addresses, now administered by GNM, until 2020.
“But Globalnet is not a network supplier. Among its clients is the main research center of the Department of Presidential Property Administration of Russia (Glavnivts). Officially, this organization provides technical support for public events of questions and answers, peaks and other high -level meetings,” says the stories.
In 2022, Globalnet launched the first filter and traffic monitoring systems based on a deep inspection of packages (DPI) at the request of Roskomnadzor, Russian Internet surveillance gifts responsible for enforcing online restrictions.
What does Telegram say?
As mentioned above, Telegram rejects these accusations.
In a written comment sent to Techradar, Telegram spokesman, Remi Vaughn, said: “As a global company, Telegram has contracts with dozens of different service providers worldwide. 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 history, Telegram never revealed any private message to a third party, and its encryption has never been breached.”
An response that, according to Istories reporters, “contradicts facts established in a United States court.”
Is it safe to use telegram?
Released in 2013, Telegram is marketed “as a messaging application with an approach to speed and safety.”
Its founder and CEO, Pavel Durov, is a billionaire born in Russia, popular among the combatants of freedom of expression for refusing to give the identities of Telegram users to requests for application of the law.
Some countries have blocked access to Telegram over the years for this reason, and France issued an arrest warrant against illegal activities that occurred on the platform. However, the company is one of the few conventional online platforms available in Russia at the time of writing.
That said, Telegram does not offer the same level of security as the tastes of Signal and WhatsApp, which encrypts all messages and calls by default. On the contrary, only Telegram secret chats are encrypted from end to end, and users have to actively activate this additional protection.
Speaking with Istories, Michał “Rysiek” Woźniak, a security specialist who used to work for ECCCRP as head of infrastructure and information security, warns that this system could leave users vulnerable to follow -up, even if their messages remain inaccessible.
He said: “If I know the ‘auth_key_id’ of your device, and I can listen to the network that handles the data … I know it is your specific device that communicates with the telegram servers. When looking at the packages of the network … I also get your IP address at a given time, which tells me its approximate geographical location.”
According to Woźniak, this could become a real problem if Russian intelligence services really have access to telegram traffic. “A tool for global surveillance of messenger users, regardless of where they are already connected.”
If a link between the telegram and the Russian FSB has not yet been confirmed, the investigation still emphasizes that protecting the content of communications is not enough, since the privacy of metadata is also important. I invite anyone concerned about their privacy to use solutions that minimize exposure to metadata, such as the signal and session.
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