Today, France’s foreign intelligence service, the DGSE, responded to Telegram founder Pavel Durov’s claims that the head of the French service asked him to block accounts supporting conservatives in Romania ahead of that country’s presidential election.
The official statement reads: “The DGSE categorically denies that such demands were ever made in connection with the electoral process.”
The 40-year-old tech entrepreneur wrote on his X page late Sunday that the head of the French exceptional service, Nicolas Lerner, had contacted him this spring demanding that he block voices supporting conservatives in Romania.
“I refused. We did not block protesters in Russia, Belarus, or Iran. We will not start doing this in Europe,” Durov said.
Durov also suspiciously implied that the French government had attempted to interfere in the Romanian elections. He posted a message on his Telegram channel that did not mention the country by name but used an image of a French baguette.
The French Foreign Ministry and the DGSE have vehemently denied the allegations of interference.
