Juli Vavilova, 24, who is also a video game streamer, is at the center of an online investigation after she shared a series of glam photos while apparently traveling with Durov in Azerbaijan last week, according to matching social media posts flagged by French data privacy researcher. Baptiste Robert and others.
Online watchers suggested the posts may have detailed the exiled Russian tycoon’s movements before his arrest. He was arrested after his private jet landed at Le Bourget airport outside Paris on Saturday.
“It’s complicated to say whether her posts played a direct role in his arrest, but if you followed her on social media, you could easily track Durov’s movements,” Robert told the The Post.
Vavilova’s family now tells the AFP news agency that they have been unable to contact her since Durov’s arrest.
Durov’s arrest has outraged supporters of free speech in tech, including X owner Elon Musk. They claim he was targeted because he refused to give governments the keys to his encrypted app.
Vavilova’s relationship with Durov remains unclear, but her social media accounts are full of photos and videos of her travels to the Middle East in the same timeframe as the Telegram CEO’s known trips to those places.
Robert put together a collection of such posts on X, including video of the two of them together in Uzbekistan taken earlier this summer by a Russian blogger.
Another post appears to show Vavilova in the passenger seat of the car Durov was driving in Azerbaijan on August 21, with the two posting pictures of themselves at the same shooting range and later at the same hotel in the country’s capital.
It is unknown how and when Vavilova and Durov met, but both live in Dubai, where Durov relied on Telegram after fleeing Russia in 2014 when he refused to hand over encrypted data to the Kremlin.
Durov was neither in hiding nor on the run, with the dual French national making regular trips to Europe, his company said in a statement.
French authorities had issued a search warrant for Durov as part of an Interior Ministry investigation into allegations of crimes against minors.
His arrest has sparked international intrigue and questions about why exactly he was arrested.
French officials claim that Durov is complicit in the global drug trade, pedophilia and fraud that run rampant on Telegram due to its lack of moderation and the tools it offers, including cryptocurrencies.
“At the heart of the case is the lack of moderation and cooperation on the part of the platform,” Jean-Michel Bernigaud, secretary general of the French police agency Ofmin, said in a statement.
His relationship with Russian President Vladimir Putin’s regime also remains unclear. Telegram was blocked in Russia in 2018 but then allowed two years later and is an important social networking platform for Russian officials as well as the Russian military, according to the BBC.
Online rumors have speculated – without evidence – that Durov’s visit to Azerbaijan was so he could meet Putin, a claim the Kremlin denies.
It is also unclear why Durov would return to Paris on his private plane when the warrant is only valid if he sets foot on French soil, as authorities will be notified of his landing.
Representatives for the billionaire could not immediately be reached for comment.
Telegram was originally based in Russia before Durov left in 2014, with the company now based in Dubai.
Telegram has also drawn criticism from many governments around the world for allowing militants and organized criminals to communicate discreetly on the app, which emphasizes user privacy above all else.
Durov, who is estimated by Forbes to be worth about $15.5 billion, has repeatedly said that Telegram is a neutral social media platform and that he left Russia to avoid taking orders from Moscow.
Specifically, Russia began blocking Telegram in 2018 after the company refused to comply with a court order to give the state access to its users’ data, with the government eventually lifting the ban in 2020.
French officials said Durov would be held for at least two more days, but the exact charges against him remain unclear – much to the dismay of Durov’s supporters who denounce the arrest as an attack on free speech.
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