On September 5, during the plenary session of the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated that he did not meet with Telegram founder Pavel Durov in Baku.
Putin clarified that his last personal contact with Durov took place many years ago during a meeting with business representatives.
According to Russian media reports cited by Report, Putin said, "I met with Mr. Durov once in Moscow many years ago. He was just talking about his business development plans. I regularly meet with businesses, and he was at one of those meetings. It was a long time ago, many years ago. We haven't seen each other since then, and we've never been in contact. Why would we meet in Baku? I don't quite understand. I didn't even know he was there. I had no idea about that."