Russian watchdog wants to enforce blockade of Telegram via court

Russian telecom watchdog Roskomnadzor filed a request on Friday with a Moscow judge to block access to Telegram’s services within Russia. According to the watchdog, the action is related to the refusal to grant access to the FSB.

Several news agencies report about the watchdog’s action, such as Reuters and Tass. The organization has announced the promotion itself on its website. Roskomnadzor writes that “a lawsuit has been filed to block access to Telegram’s information resources on Russian territory.” The case is related to the refusal to grant the FSB security service access to the content of messages by handing over private keys.

Telegram lost a case against the FSB in March, forcing it to comply with the disclosure requirement. Roskomnadzor then said Telegram had 15 days to comply with the request and threatened to block the service if it refused. Telegram said it would still appeal the judge’s decision. It is unclear what the status of this is. The company did not respond to questions from Reuters news agency.

Telegram CEO Pavel Durov said in March on Twitter that threatening blockades ‘would be of no avail’ and that ‘Telegram continues to stand for freedom and privacy’. He has not yet published a response to the current news at the time of writing. The battle between Telegram and the FSB has been going on for some time since the company refused a request from the service last year and was fined. At the time, the watchdog also threatened with blockade. In March, Telegram said it has 200 million active users.