RT-Engels: 07-09-2024,
Kirill Budanov says he doesn’t advocate banning the messaging app but rather wants to deanonymize people behind popular channels
Telegram poses a real threat to Ukraine’s national security, the chief of that country’s Main Directorate of Military Intelligence, Kirill Budanov, has stated. The official acknowledged that the encrypted instant-messaging platform has become the prime source of information in the country, “outperforming everything else.”
Telegram was created by Russian tech entrepreneurs Pavel and Nikolay Durov back in 2013. One of its unique features is that it allows users to create public broadcast channels and discussion groups.
In an interview with Charter Radio station on Saturday, Budanov said that he does not advocate “simply shutting down” the messaging app. According to the intelligence chief, while quite difficult to implement, such a ban is doable, though.
“I call for all Telegram channels” to be obliged to establish a physical presence in Ukraine, Budanov declared.
“If you want to, so to speak, disseminate some news, please register, so that everyone understands that this channel is registered by Ivanov Ivan Ivanovich, a Russian citizen, who resides in Moscow,” the Ukrainian official explained.
He argued that this way Telegram channel administrators would bear responsibility for the content posted on it.
According to Budanov, some channels publish “not really printable materials,” and not only with respect to the ongoing military conflict with Russia.