Telegram CEO Links Apple's Prevention of App Update to Messenger's Ban in Russia

"Apple has been preventing Telegram from updating its iOS apps globally ever since the Russian authorities ordered Apple to remove Telegram from the App Store," Durov said on his Telegram channel.

The CEO's statement comes the day after the messenger's website reported that Apple had been blocking updates to Telegram since mid-April.

READ MORE: Telegram Lawyers Say Managed to Appeal Blocking in Russia Before Deadline

On Monday, Russia's state communication watchdog, Roskomnadzor, said it had requested Apple to delete the Telegram messenger app from the Russian App Store. Roskomnadzor also asked the company to suggest ways of resolving the situation, warning that otherwise, it might disrupt App Store operations.

Roskomnadzor began blocking Telegram in Russia on April 16, explaining the move by the fact that the messenger was widely used by terrorists for communication. The watchdog further specified that Telegram had refused to provide encryption keys to the Russian authorities to track down terrorists.

Durov said that the messenger would use built-in methods to bypass the restriction. In response, Roskomnadzor has blocked a range of IP addresses belonging to Google and Amazon that were used by Telegram.