Yaroslav Azhniuk is a Ukrainian entrepreneur and founder of Spend With Ukraine who has been exploring security issues related to Russian messengers of Telegram and Viber. He says he recently talked in a closed format about the risks of Telegram and Viber with the head of Ukrainian Intelligence, Kyrylo Budanov, and Ukraine’s Minister of Digital Transformation, Mykhailo Fedorov. Officials confirmed the danger of the use of these messengers.
In particular, Budanov said:
“The FSB, and only them, have the keys to Telegram. Viber, in general, is an application created for espionage. And even if you don’t have correspondence there [FSB can use it for espionage].”
When asked whether it is possible to talk about this information publicly, Budanov answered yes. Azhniuk says he agreed with Fedorov to study in detail the facts that may testify to Telegram’s connection with the Kremlin to conduct further actions.
Along with Facebook and Intagram, Viber and Telegram are the most popular social networks in Ukraine.
