Putin: I met Telegram founder Durov years ago, did not keep in touch

Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that he met the founder of messaging service Telegram, Pavel Durov - who faces possible criminal charges in France - in Moscow a long time ago.

"It was a meeting with entrepreneurs," Putin said on Thursday at the Eastern Economic Forum in Vladivostok. "We have not seen each other since then, we have never kept in touch."

Putin denied meeting Russia-born Durov shortly before his arrest in Paris.

At the same time, he criticized the French authorities’ actions against the billionaire.

Shortly before his arrest, Durov was in Azerbaijan – coinciding with an official visit by Putin to the Caucasian republic.

According to media reports, Durov had sought a meeting with Putin in Baku, but Putin has now stated that he was unaware of Durov's presence there. He would not have refused a meeting in Moscow, he added.

Investigators accuse Durov of insufficient cooperation with authorities in criminal investigations and aiding and abetting criminal offences on his messaging app, among other things, the Paris public prosecutor's office said.

The suspicion is that Durov is complicit in drug trafficking, money laundering, fraud and several child abuse-related offences due to a lack of regulation at Telegram and a lack of cooperation with authorities.

Critics of Telegram also suspect Durov of working with Russian security authorities, which he denies.