Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov says the country’s relations with France have reached their lowest level since Paris’s arrest without charge of the Telegram messaging application’s CEO.

Lavrov made the remarks on Tuesday concerning Pavel Durov’s apprehension that took place near the French capital over the weekend as part of what was described as an “investigation.”

He denounced Paris for its stance “on the issues of freedom of speech, freedom of dissemination of information and, in general, on the issues of respect for the profession of journalists.”

The top diplomat also revealed that Durov had been “threatened with terrible punishment, apparently with the aim of gaining access to the [application’s] encryption codes.”

The detention took place “on someone’s advice,” Lavrov, meanwhile, noted, echoing remarks made by other Russian officials.

Earlier, Vyacheslav Volodin, chairman of Russia’s State Duma, the lower house of parliament, said the United States was attempting to exert control over Telegram through France.

“Telegram is one of the few and at the same time the largest Internet platforms over which the United States has no influence,” Volodin said in a post. “On the eve of the US presidential election, it is important for [President Joe] Biden to take Telegram under control,” he added.

Also on Tuesday, the Kremlin said Durov’s arrest “will be a direct attempt to limit freedom of communication” unless Paris provided serious evidence against him.

Telegram enjoys close to one billion users across the world, priding itself on the well-protected communion and free speech platform that it provides.

Durov’s detention has sparked controversy regarding double standards exercised towards the issue of free speech by Western countries, which have failed to subject Telegram to the same surveillance that they have imposed on other platforms.

Speculation is also rife that the action taken against the tech mogul may be linked to the platform’s coverage of alternative perspectives and the Israeli regime’s ongoing war of genocide against the Gaza Strip.

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