Sanctions have led to the freezing of around $500 million in bonds issued by the Telegram messaging app in Russia. The development highlights the company\u2019s continued exposure to Russian financial systems, despite founder Pavel Durov taking steps to distance Telegram from Moscow.<\/p>\n
Telegram has conducted several bond issuances in recent years, including a $1.7 billion offering in May 2025. While the company repurchased most of its bonds maturing in 2026, about $500 million remain blocked at Russia\u2019s National Settlement Depository (NSD), according to sources familiar with discussions between Telegram\u2019s management and investors. The NSD has been sanctioned by the European Union, the United States, and Britain following Russia\u2019s invasion of Ukraine.<\/p>\n
Telegram has denied claims that it is dependent on Russian capital or faces bond-related risks from sanctions. Spokesperson Remi Vaughn spoked that the 2025 bond issuance involved no Russian investors and was purchased mainly by U.S. funds. Vaughn added that the $500 million figure cited by the Financial Times refers to bonds issued in 2021. He emphasized that standard practices for bond repayments involve international intermediaries, meaning sanctions do not create risks for Telegram even if some bondholders are unable to receive payments. In the first half of 2025, Telegram reported revenue of $870 million, a 65% increase from the same period the previous year, according to the Financial Times. However, the company posted a net loss of $222 million, compared with a net profit of $334 million a year earlier, driven largely by a write-down in Toncoin cryptocurrency holdings amid a broader market downturn.<\/p>\n
Durov, who left Russia in 2014 citing pressure to share user data, has faced criticism over content moderation and alleged cooperation with Russian authorities, which he denies. In August 2025, Russia blocked voice and video calls on Telegram awhile promoting the domestic app Max. Durov, who also holds French and UAE citizenship, remains under investigation in France for alleged failure to curb criminal activity on Telegram.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Sanctions have led to the freezing of around $500 million in bonds issued by the Telegram messaging app in Russia\u2026.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":441,"featured_media":238,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[51],"tags":[257,142],"class_list":["post-237","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-russia","tag-russias-national-settlement-depository-nsd","tag-telegram"],"reading_time":"2 min read","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/441"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=237"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":303,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/237\/revisions\/303"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/238"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=237"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=237"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.businessupturn.com\/trade-policy\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=237"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}