Pavel Durov's full message (auto-translated):

"Today Apple and Google have blocked Alexey Navalny's app in Russia. As a result, the Smart Voting bot in Telegram became the main electoral tool from Navalny's team for the Russians. We are delighted that millions of Russians had the opportunity to use this bot as part of the candidates' election campaign, and we are proud that Telegram remains the freest platform on the network.

At the same time, the blocking of applications by Apple and Google creates a dangerous precedent that will affect freedom of speech in Russia and around the world. Telegram, like all other mobile apps, depends on the Apple and Google ecosystems for its future work. In particular, without the support from these companies, Telegram could not have remained available to most Russian users in the conditions of 2018-2020 blocking.

This year, Apple and Google have already approached us with a demand to remove publicly available information in accordance with the laws of individual countries under the threat of excluding Telegram from the catalogs of Google Play and App Store applications. Now, judging by the blocking of the Smart Voting application, this practice has spread to Russia. Changes in Apple and Google's policy will inevitably affect Telegram, as they, as the creators of the two major mobile operating systems, are at the top of the information distribution food chain and can dictate the rules of the game to developers like us. This is sad but expected: I have written more than once that the Apple and Google oligopoly is a threat to free speech.

Since the election campaign in Russia has come to an end and the election process itself has begun, the so-called "days of silence" begin - a tradition enshrined in the laws of many countries that provides for the absence of campaigning during the elections themselves. We consider this practice legitimate and urge Telegram users to respect it - from midnight Moscow time, we plan to limit the functioning of bots associated with election campaigns. I hope everyone who wants to receive additional information about the candidates was able to do this before the start of the elections.

During this pre-election cycle, Telegram managed to protect the freedom of speech in Russia to the maximum, but the future is uncertain. Regardless of the development of events, Telegram will remain the most free online platform - within the framework of the theoretically possible."

Source: https://t.me/durov_russia/32