No longer than a couple of years ago Durov was writing sweet fairy tales about Great Russia and how he's never going to leave because it is the greatest place on Earth. Only when his business (based on hosting pirated content and stolen designs) was slightly "shared" with more important people did he suddenly change his tune.

I don't have any opinion on this, but it is rather common sentiment in Runet that really Telegram is in cahoots with Russian TLAs anyway.