Telegram Founder Opens Up About France’s Interference in the Presidential Elections of Romania

EXCERPT:

DUROV: “The French government first officially denied my claim, and then I provided some more details, and they had to confirm the meetings actually took place, but then they said that these meetings were related to something else. I was indeed, you know, asked by the head of French intelligence, Nicolas Lerner, to do what you described, and interestingly, after the denial came, it turned out that there are other facts confirming what I just said. The same gentleman turned out to be in Romania two days before the presidential elections. There was a claim made by the closest ally of President Macron, who said just a week before the elections that they will do everything that they need to do on the ground to make sure the candidate they like gets elected. So I don't -- I think it was something that it should be clarified. Telegram does not take any position in the elections in Romania. We don't like one candidate over the other. I just think it's very important to be very transparent about what kinds of requests we receive and make sure that everybody is playing by the same rules and all -- the same standards are applied to all players in the political competition.”