For Oleksandra Tsekhanovska, head of the Hybrid Warfare Analytical Group at the Kyiv-based Ukraine Crisis Media Center, the effects are both near- and far-reaching. The next bit isn’t clear, but Durov reportedly claimed that his resignation, dated March 21st, was an April Fools’ prank. TechCrunch implies that it was a matter of principle, but it’s hard to be clear on the wheres, whos and whys. Similarly, on April 17th, the Moscow Times quoted Durov as saying that he quit the company after being pressured to reveal account details about Ukrainians protesting the then-president Viktor Yanukovych. Perpetrators of such fraud use various marketing techniques to attract subscribers on their social media channels. In 2018, Russia banned Telegram although it reversed the prohibition two years later. "This time we received the coordinates of enemy vehicles marked 'V' in Kyiv region," it added.
from fr
