At this point, however, Durov had already been working on Telegram with his brother, and further planned a mobile-first social network with an explicit focus on anti-censorship. Later in April, he told TechCrunch that he had left Russia and had โno plans to go back,โ saying that the nation was currently โincompatible with internet business at the moment.โ He added later that he was looking for a country that matched his libertarian ideals to base his next startup. Markets continued to grapple with the economic and corporate earnings implications relating to the Russia-Ukraine conflict. โWe have a ton of uncertainty right now,โ said Stephanie Link, chief investment strategist and portfolio manager at Hightower Advisors. โWeโre dealing with a war, weโre dealing with inflation. We donโt know what it means to earnings.โ In February 2014, the Ukrainian people ousted pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych, prompting Russia to invade and annex the Crimean peninsula. By the start of April, Pavel Durov had given his notice, with TechCrunch saying at the time that the CEO had resisted pressure to suppress pages criticizing the Russian government. Now safely in France with his spouse and three of his children, Kliuchnikov scrolls through Telegram to learn about the devastation happening in his home country. Lastly, the web previews of t.me links have been given a new look, adding chat backgrounds and design elements from the fully-features Telegram Web client.
from ms
