He left VK in 2014 following disputes with the company's new owners and increased pressure from Russian authorities, which also led him to leave the country.

In 2013, he and his older brother, Nikolai Durov, developed Telegram, and in 2017, they moved to Dubai, United Arab Emirates, where its headquarters are now located.

Vyacheslav showed Durov the increasingly popular Facebook, after which the friends decided to create a new Russian social network.

[27][23] In 2012, Durov publicly posted a picture of himself extending his middle finger and calling it his official response to Mail.ru Group's efforts to buy VK.

[27] In December 2013, Durov decided to sell his 12% to Ivan Tavrin (at that time 40% of the shares belonged to Mail.ru Group, and 48% to the United Capital Partners).

[32][33] His resignation message had signed off with "So Long and Thanks for All the Fish", a line from cult novel Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy and the title of a later book in the series.

[31] A company spokesman said there was an official statement about his resignation that turned out to be a link to the Rick rolling internet meme.

[31] On 16 April 2014, Durov publicly refused to hand over the personal data of Ukrainian protesters against pro-Russian president Viktor Yanukovych to Russia's Federal Security Service and to block Alexei Navalny's page on VK.

[34][37] Durov then said the company had been effectively taken over by Vladimir Putin's allies,[37][38] suggesting his ouster was the result of both his refusal to hand over personal details of users to federal law enforcement and his refusal to hand over the personal details of people who were members of a VK group dedicated to the Euromaidan protest movement.

[37][38] Durov then left Russia and stated that he had "no plans to go back"[38] and that "the country is incompatible with internet business at the moment".

[34] On leaving Russia, he obtained Saint Kitts and Nevis citizenship by donating $250,000 to the country's Sugar Industry Diversification Foundation and secured $300 million in cash within Swiss banks.

[41] However, these ventures were halted by American regulator U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission which argued in court that Grams bypassed U.S. financing laws and should return the money to investors.

A leaked letter by a Federal Security Service employee stated that the block was actually tied to the company's intention to launch the Telegram Open Network.

[43] During the attempted block period, the Russian Ministry of Foreign Affairs continued to operate official channels on the app.

[53] Following the issuance of formal charges, Durov was released on bail and is barred from leaving the territory of France until the case is resolved.

[58][59] Reports also indicate that Durov was on the list of individuals wanted by French authorities, and his arrest was because of his alleged failure to cooperate with judicial officials, including issues related to Telegram's activities.

[60] Natalia Krapiva, a lawyer at the digital rights group Access Now, said that French authorities could try to force Durov to provide Telegram's encryption keys to decrypt private messages, "which Russia has already tried to do in the past".

In a joint operation code-named "Purple Music", French spies and the UAE hacked Durov's iPhone.

[70] As a follow-up, an investigation into the said alleged abuse of a son was opened against him by the Juvenile Office (OFMIN) of the Central Directorate of the Judicial Police of France.

[76] In 2012, at the age of 27, he published manifestos detailing his ideas on improving Russia[80] and donated a million dollars to the Wikimedia Foundation to support Wikipedia.

[84] Durov has been described as the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia for founding the social networking site VK, which is similar to Facebook.

[88][89] On 21 June 2018, the Union of Kazakhstan's Journalists bestowed an award on Durov "for his principled position against censorship and the state's interference into citizens' free online correspondence".