Russia's FSB says Ukraine can access front-line data via Telegram

Russia said Ukraine can obtain sensitive information from troops using the Telegram app on the front line, signalling tightening scrutiny over a platform used by millions of Russians.  

The use of Telegram in combat areas has repeatedly endangered the lives of Russian servicemen, Russia’s Federal Security Service, a powerful domestic intelligence agency and the main successor to the Soviet-era KGB, said in the statement through RIA Novosti on Saturday. Ukraine’s special services can quickly obtain information from the messaging platform and use it for military purposes, it said. 

 

Russia’s communications watchdog limited access to Telegram — a popular messaging app owned by Russian-born billionaire Pavel Durov — over a week ago for failing to comply with Russian laws requiring personal data to be stored locally. Voice and video calls were blocked via Telegram in August. 

 

The pressure is the latest move in a long-running campaign to promote what the Kremlin calls a sovereign internet that’s led to blocks on YouTube, Instagram and WhatsApp. Telegram is facing restrictions even as some of Russian President Vladimir Putin’s most vocal supporters are up in arms over the Kremlin’s latest move to restrict the messaging service and push people to use a new state-backed alternative.

 

Several military bloggers on Telegram said in posts that the move risks leaving soldiers without communications. There are no viable alternatives to Telegram on the front, soldiers complained.

 

Foreign intelligence services are able to see Russia’s military messages in Telegram too, Russia’s Minister for digital development, Maksut Shadaev, said on Wednesday, although he added that Russia will not block access to Telegram for troops for now.

 

Telegram responded at the time that no breaches of the app’s encryption have ever been found.

 

“The Russian government’s allegation that our encryption has been compromised is a deliberate fabrication intended to justify outlawing Telegram and forcing citizens onto a state-controlled messaging platform engineered for mass surveillance and censorship,” it said in an emailed response.