The «VChK-OGPU» channel, which published information about Russian law enforcement officers and officials, has disappeared from the Telegram platform. According to Ukrainian blogger Denis Kazansky, this may indicate cooperation between Telegram owner Pavel Durov and the Russian authorities.
The «VChK-OGPU» channel, which published information about Russian law enforcement officers and officials, has disappeared from the Telegram platform. According to Ukrainian blogger Denis Kazansky, this may indicate cooperation between Telegram owner Pavel Durov and the Russian authorities.
The removal of the «VChK-OGPU» channel was announced by its authors on a backup channel, the Russian branch of Radio Liberty reports.
«Everything indicates that this was done by Telegram’s management. For now, I would like to believe that this event took place without the direct participation of Pavel Durov himself and is associated with individual representatives of his team,» the channel’s creators said. They added that it was removed without warning.
Previously, the Russian Prosecutor General’s Office and Roskomnadzor demanded the removal of the Cheka-OGPU channel for publishing «information aimed at destabilizing the socio-political situation in the Russian Federation, discrediting the actions of state authorities of the Russian Federation and the Armed Forces of the Russian Federation».
In the summer of 2024, «VChK-OGPU», which has over 1 million subscribers, was declared a «foreign agent» by the Russian authorities. It was among the channels that the Tagansky Court ordered to be blocked.
«Telegram owner Pavel Durov openly cooperated with the Kremlin and, by decision of a Russian court, blocked a whole list of channels, including the million-dollar channel of the Cheka-OGPU, which posted real insider information and information inconvenient for the Russian regime», — commented on the situation Ukrainian blogger Denis Kazansky, who fights Russian disinformation.
According to him, this means that any channel that is inconvenient for the Russian authorities «can now disappear at any moment.» In his opinion, Telegram users, especially Ukrainian military personnel, should not be used for confidential communications.
«This is probably the beginning of the end of Telegram. Another visual story about how Russians will never be able to create anything good, because the moment it comes out, a сhekist always comes and turns all the achievements into s**t», — Kazansky added.
UPD. Telegram claims that the anonymous Telegram channel «Cheka-OGPU» was deleted by its owners.
«The channel was deleted by its owner, possibly due to unauthorized access. We are checking,» the Telegram press service said.
In March, Telegram founder Pavel Durov announced that the messenger had 1 billion monthly active users and had become the second most popular messaging app in the world (excluding China’s WeChat).
«We have WhatsApp in front of us — a cheap, watered-down imitation of Telegram. For years, they have tried desperately to copy our innovations, spending billions on lobbying and PR campaigns to slow us down. They have failed», — Durov said.
Previously, the Security Service of Ukraine reported that Russian special services most often use the Telegram service to recruit Ukrainians.
