Telegram Founder Pavel Durov Thanks French Judges After Returning to Dubai

Durov said it was ‘great to be home’ in the United Arab Emirates after French judges investigating the app relaxed a travel ban imposed last year.

Pavel Durov, CEO and co-founder of Telegram, speaks onstage during day one of TechCrunch Disrupt SF 2015 at Pier 70 in San Francisco on Sept. 21, 2015. Steve Jennings/Getty Images for TechCrunch

Telegram co-founder and CEO Pavel Durov said he has arrived back in Dubai after French prosecutors apparently rescinded a travel ban that they imposed after he was arrested in Paris in August 2024.

Reports over the weekend suggested that he had been allowed to leave France.