Russia’s largest e-book service Litres pulls Pavel Durov biography days after founder labeled terrorist
Litres, Russia’s largest e-book and audiobook service, has removed two volumes of Nikolay Kononov’s book Durov’s Code, which profiles Telegram co-founder Pavel Durov. The move comes after Russian authorities added Durov to a list of terrorists and extremists.
Litres, the largest e-book and audiobook service on the Russian internet, has removed from sale two volumes of Nikolay Kononov’s book Durov’s Code. The book tells the story of Pavel Durov, the founder of VKontakte and Telegram. Representatives of the company told the Russian outlet Podyom that the Litres Group operates in accordance with Russian law.
Even before Litres took this step, Russian online marketplaces had begun pulling merchandise featuring Durov’s photos from their listings. In addition, Moscow’s AltraVita clinic, which offers in vitro fertilization using Durov as a sperm donor, removed the promotional page for the procedure from its website, although the procedure itself remains available.
On July 30, Russia’s Federal Financial Monitoring Service (Rosfinmonitoring) added Durov to its list of terrorists and extremists. This came a day after the Federal Security Service (FSB) accused him of aiding terrorist activity. The FSB based the allegation on the claim that Telegram fails to remove channels and chats that violate Russian law.
