There is a simpler explanation.

1) European Court of Human Rights will publish a set of decisions about Russia blocking access to different websites. [0] All those decisions are expected to be in favour of plaintiffs.

2) Court would soon communicate first case about blocking of Telegram by collateral party.

3) Communication of primary case by Telegram LLC [1] is a matter of weeks, it was delayed due to company restructurizing.

Russia gonna face direct lifting order from ECHR and that would be a Zugzwang: position, from which any move is losing.

Besides, blocking of Telegram for at leas last year and a half was inefficient, if not nonexistent. It is a common subject of satire towards state actors responsible for blocking.

So, I take it as a face-saving move, according to Hanlon's razor.

[0] https://hudoc.echr.coe.int/app/conversion/pdf?library=ECHR&i...

[1] https://agora.legal/fs/a_delo2doc/97_file_Report_2018.pdf

Do you really think Russia is influenced by the European Court of Human Rights?

Probably?

The jurisdiction of the court extends to nearly all European states, with the exception of Belarus, the Vatican City, and the predominantly Central Asian Kazakhstan.

But,

In 2015, Russia adopted a law allowing it to overrule judgements from the ECtHR, codifying an earlier Russian Constitutional Court decision which ruled that Russia could refuse to recognize an ECtHR decision if it conflicted with the Russian Constitution.

Compare,

Other countries have also moved to restrict the binding nature of the ECtHR judgments, subject to the countries' own constitutional principles. In 2004, the Federal Constitutional Court of Germany ruled that judgments handed down by the ECtHR are not always binding on German courts.

(All https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/European_Court_of_Human_Rights

> Russia could refuse to recognize an ECtHR decision if it conflicted with the Russian Constitution

And the vote on the new Constitution amendments is scheduled to proceed in a few days.

Yes, Russia is (still?) a signatory to the European Convention on Human Rights, in which it agrees to be bound by decisions of ECHR. There have been quite a few ECHR cases where monetary compensation was awarded from Russia to someone, and up until now Russia has been complying with these decisions and paying these compensation amounts.

Russia in the process of amending the constitution right now to, among other things, specifically declare priority of Russian law over any decision of international courts.

This is not correct. The amendment text is about priority of Constitution, not all laws. So that mostly means no same sex marriage for Russian citizens.

Currently Russia complies with most (all?) ECHR decisions and orders. I think it can be interpreted as being influenced.

So the most reasonable explanation is that Pavel is in a conspiracy with the Russian government and is living in exile as a cover huh?

Sounds pretty complicated when a simpler answer would also exist.

Pavel has a history of sketchy behavior, some leaked info by insider [1] has uncovered that many things Durov said about the location of the developers and Telegram development is false , and Durov's response to these allegations were extremely unconvincing.

I'm in a camp who thinks that this 'ban' was just a PR stunt coordinated with Roscomdanzor, which was known to be futile from the start and instantly raised the credibility of Telegram and cemented the myth how 'protected' it is.

[1] https://medium.com/@anton.rozenberg/friendship-betrayal-clai...

There's no evidence the ban was a PR stunt, but it did play into Durov's hands, and through that, into the hands of the Kremlin when every dissident flocked to a service with centralized attack point to compromise all group chats -- the Telegram server.

I don't feel like he's living in an exile.

For starters, the citizenship that was acquired for $ 250k something is from Saint Kitts and Nevis, known for it's abuse of human rights. To me it's a classical double standard behavior.

He's vocal on not being able to conduct business in Russia as he pleases and it's a clear violation in his purview. Never heard him being involved with fighting inequity of the new home country.

Second of all, Saudi Arabia, the unofficial Telegram HQ, is tax exempt for hi-tech, but don't quote me on it.

> For starters, the citizenship that was acquired for $ 250k something is from Saint Kitts and Nevis, known for it's abuse of human rights. To me it's a classical double standard behavior.

Blame the UK and EU who allow visa-free travel with SKN but not with Russia and don’t sanction it.

It is a country with a population of 50 000 people. The only reason it is not extremely poor is because its business model is giving citizenship to businessmen to avoid taxes and allow them to travel freely.

Fighting an obviously lost fight against SKN and jeopardizing your whole life sounds even more stupid than fighting windmills.

My point is he's accustomed to cutting corners.

>>Fighting an obviously lost right against SKN and jeopardizing your whole life sounds even more stupid than fighting windmills.

He could've applied for maltese or cypriot passport.

Just FYI - Brexit killed the St. Kitts/Nevis loophole for EU passports, since their association with the EU was through the U.K.

Known for its abuse of human rights? The only thing I could find was that male homosexuality is illegal there. You may regard that as abuse of a particular human right, but to me, it's considerably less than it sounded like you meant.

Well... if you assume safety is basic human right as well then this is relevant[0]

[0] https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crime_in_Saint_Kitts_and_Nev...

Wow. Seven times higher murder rate than the US? I'm astonished.

Durov's exile lasted for less than two months https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/03/technology/once-celebrate...

He was never properly persecuted. He never had a close call with McPolonium when eating out. He's not considered an actual threat.