Telegram Accused of Collusion with Russian Intelligence

The Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) published findings on June 10, 2025, from an investigation by its Russian member outlet, Important Stories, shedding light on Telegram’s alleged connections to Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB).

At the center of the inquiry is Viktor Vedeneev, a Russian national who provides network services to Telegram. His company supplies the platform with thousands of IP addresses and handles server maintenance. However, Vedeneev also owns several firms known to work closely with the FSB, the Russian defense sector, and “other highly sensitive agencies.”

According to the OCCRP, Vedeneev appears to play a pivotal role within Telegram’s infrastructure. In a Florida court case, he was reportedly “the only individual authorized to access Telegram’s servers in a Miami data center.”

The investigation also highlights what Important Stories calls a “surprising design choice” in Telegram’s architecture—one that allegedly allows the platform to track metadata traffic from any user account. This would enable Telegram to determine when messages are sent and to whom, even if the content remains end-to-end encrypted.