The allegations could result in a life sentence for Telegram founder Pavel Durov, marking a significant escalation in a case that has already led to more than 100 million rubles in fines against the messaging platform this year.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) said Wednesday that it had filed charges against Durov for allegedly aiding terrorist activities and placed him on an international wanted list.

According to Interfax, the FSB accused Telegram of failing to remove channels, chats, and bots that were allegedly used by Ukrainian intelligence-linked groups and extremist organizations to coordinate acts of sabotage, attacks, and cyber fraud inside Russia.

The charges against Durov reportedly carry a penalty of up to life imprisonment. The FSB did not reveal whether it had submitted a request for an Interpol Red Notice, which would not automatically amount to an international arrest warrant.

The legal action expands an investigation that began in February after Russian authorities started restricting Telegram’s services. The platform has been fined over 100 million rubles ($1.25 million) this year, mainly due to allegations that it failed to remove content prohibited under Russian law, according to Interfax.

Telegram remains one of the most widely used platforms in the cryptocurrency industry, serving as a hub for blockchain communities, trading groups, automated bots, and crypto-related Mini Apps.

The platform is also closely tied to The Open Network (TON), whose native token was renamed from Toncoin to Gram in June. TON provides infrastructure for payments, tokenized assets, and Mini Apps within Telegram, giving the network potential access to the messaging platform’s more than 1 billion users.

Gram was trading around $1.42, down roughly 2.4% over the past 24 hours. Earlier this month, Durov said Telegram plans to introduce a native, non-custodial Gram wallet directly within the Telegram application for all users.