Last Saturday, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov was arrested in France in connection with a cybercrime investigation, and the UAE requested consular services for him. "The UAE is closely following the case of its citizen Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram, who was arrested by French authorities at Paris-Le Bourget airport," the UAE foreign ministry said in a statement. "The UAE has requested the French government to urgently provide him with all necessary consular services." Durov was born in Russia and moved to Dubai (where Telegram is headquartered) in 2017. He became an Emirati citizen in February 2021 and naturalized as a French citizen in August 2021, gaining European Union citizenship.