He left VK in following disputes with the company's new owners and increased pressure from Russian authorities, which also led him to leave the country. In , he and his older brother, Nikolai Durov , developed Telegram , and in , they moved to Dubai , United Arab Emirates , where its headquarters are now located.
His fortune is largely driven by his ownership of Telegram. On 24 August , Durov was arrested by French police on criminal charges relating to an alleged lack of content moderation on Telegram and refusal to work with police, which allegedly allowed the spread of criminal activity.
He spent most of his childhood in Turin , Italy, where his father was employed. He later [ when? Since he has been head of the Department of classical philology of the philological faculty of Saint Petersburg State University. Her maiden name is Ukrainian Ivanenko , and to this day we have many relatives living in Ukraine.
During his university years, Durov created the highly popular forum spbgu. In , he met his former classmate Vyacheslav Mirilashvili in Saint Petersburg.
Vyacheslav showed Durov the increasingly popular Facebook, after which the friends decided to create a new Russian social network. Lev Binzumovich Leviev , an Israeli classmate of Vyacheslav Mirilashivili, became the third co-founder. Durov became chief executive officer CEO and attracted his older brother Nikolai , a multiple winner of international math and programming competitions including the International Mathematical Olympiad , to develop the site. Durov launched VKontakte for beta testing in September The following month, the domain name Vkontakte.
