How did the "world of Telegram" begin as a socially significant platform? With the Telegram channel "Nezygar." Media in Russia were beginning to be stifled, and anonymous journalism was a new means of delivering truthful information to readers. "Nezygar" provided unprecedented insider information, including drafts of top officials that they had thrown into the trash. Other channels followed, including the Cheka-OGPU. All state-owned media, and, to be sure, opposition media, disliked both Durov and the anonymous channels, urging readers not to trust them. But readers wouldn't hear of it. Readers want fresh, rare meat, not stale ideological product, and it doesn't matter whether it comes from the state or the opposition. Both are prone to clichés and formulas. It was then that the Russian authorities tried to drastically "strangle" Telegram, and Durov expended all his resources and energy to prevent this. It was then that Durov temporarily became a "Robin Hood" for Russians. You remember the icons with Durov. And you can even find user reviews. Every single one of them said, "Pasha, we're with you."

And then a miracle happened. The System was broken.

Both government agencies and the opposition migrated to Telegram, cursed by both government agencies and the opposition. They were forced to create their own channels. And it seemed like this would be the beginning of a new era: Durov had broken the System.

But it turned out that the System swallowed Durov. Or rather, it simply bought him.

It didn't happen immediately, but it was very noticeable. We won't go into all the details. But everyone probably noticed that with the arrival of state media, Telegram (and, incidentally, TGstat, which was completely bought out by the Russian authorities) stopped fighting bot subscribers. Previously, Telegram used its own algorithms to clean up such activity—despite the efforts of bot farms, bots could be identified. But then, abruptly, it stopped.

Then, one fine day, all the data on the owners of inconvenient anonymous Telegram channels ended up in the hands of the Russian FSB. And we declare with full responsibility: at that time, the Telegram channel registration system was designed in such a way that there was no one but Telegram management to leak the information to.
And so it began...

The Cheka-OGPU has some very interesting documents. The case file of former FSB officer Mikhail Polyakov (FSB Uncle Misha). He is notable for having once formed a partnership with Timur Prokopenko, deputy head of the Presidential Administration's Directorate of Internal Affairs, and, together with his colleagues, began seizing those very anonymous channels whose owners' data had been leaked by Telegram management. That is, Durov himself. Before the channels were handed over to the authorities, the intelligence agencies could only guess whose channel was "in the coffee grounds," without any concrete evidence. We present excerpts, with names removed...
"Furthermore, during an inspection of the Toshiba hard drive seized during a search of M.V. Polyakov's home, a video recording from January 12, 2021, was discovered, depicting a man identifying himself as..., the creator and owner of the Telegram channel NEZYGAR. Subsequently, during operational and investigative activities, it was established that this video recording was being made by M.V. Polyakov, after which M.V. Polyakov gained control of the SIM card used to register the Telegram channel NEZYGAR and became the owner of the Telegram channel NEZYGAR."

"Around the end of 2020 or the beginning of 2021, M.V. Polyakov, apparently to enhance his own image, told her and showed her... a video recording on the mobile phone he had with him, that is, on his (M.V. Polyakov's) iPhone. The video recording captured the arrest of the owner of the Telegram channels "NEZYGAR" and "BRIEF" (previously known as "NEZYGAR BRIEF"), who introduced himself as... As M.V. Polyakov himself recounted, and she also... saw in the video shown to her by... M.V. Polyakov,... told the person who filmed the video, namely Polyakov M.V., that he…. is the creator and owner of the Telegram channels “NEZYGAR” and “BRIEF” (previously called “NEZYGAR BRIEF”), while the video recording captured the latter handing over the SIM card for managing the said Telegram channels to the person who was next to him, who was filming the recording, namely Polyakov M.V. Polyakov M.V. showed her this video recording…. as she indicated above, in order to demonstrate his importance, power and strength, as well as influence on various individuals and legal entities, including in the “media business”. After Polyakov M.V. showed her…. this video recording, Polyakov M.V. said that he personally detained..., and now the said Telegram channels "NEZYGAR" and "BRIEF" (previously called "NEZYGAR BRIEF") are managed by him (Polyakov M.V.) and are under his (Polyakov M.V.) control."
"During communication with Polyakov M.V., she (...) learned that he controls (is the owner or administrator) of the activities of various Telegram channels, including "Kremlevskaya Laundrachka", "Postovoy", "Rokot", "NEZYGAR", "BRIEF" (BRIF) and others, and makes decisions on the posting or non-posting of various information (posts and articles), including those of a negative nature, on the conditions for terminating such publications, setting 

"block on negativity" of setting the price for publication or "block on negativity", receiving and distributing profits for the said actions. During a conversation with Polyakov M.V., the latter showed her (Sergeeva N.V.) a video recording on his mobile phone, which captured the process of arresting the owner of the Telegram channels "NEZYGAR" and "BRIEF" (BRIF), who introduced himself, as far as she remembers, as .... The recording recorded that ... said that he was the creator and owner of the Telegram channels "NEZYGAR" and "BRIEF" (BRIF). Moreover, the video recording captured Kovalenko handing over a SIM card for managing the said Telegram channels to Polyakov M.V. Polyakov M.V. showed her this recording (...) in order to demonstrate his power, influence and impunity. After showing this video recording, Polyakov M.V. He said that he detained ..., and now the aforementioned Telegram channels "NEZYGAR" and "BRIEF" (BRIF) are under his control. On the Telegram channels "Kremlevskaya Laundromat", "Postovoy", "Rokot", "NEZYGAR", "BRIEF" (BRIF) and others, which were controlled by Polyakov M.V., that is, of which he was the owner and administrator, he posted posts or articles stating that a certain person was the owner of a certain Telegram channel, however, in reality, this person was not the owner and administrator of this channel. She (...) knows, including from Polyakov M.V. himself, that he posted various information, including negative, defamatory information regarding individuals and legal entities on the aforementioned Telegram channels, after which, for the removal of this negative information, Polyakov M.V. He received money and, for a certain amount, placed a so-called "negative block," that is, a prohibition on the further dissemination of negative, defamatory, disgraceful, and discrediting information. Polyakov M.V. offered her (N.V. Sergeeva) and

To be continued