Durov’s female companion speaks out for first time since arrest
The 24-year-old influencer detained alongside Telegram founder Pavel Durov in Paris last month is back on social media, warning her followers about “false information.”
Yulia Vavilova, a self-described crypto coach and Dubai-based streamer, was on board Durov’s private jet when it landed at Le Bourget airport on August 24. She was released three days later but had not made any public statements until now.
“Dear friends, new friends, and family, I’m grateful to have you in my life,” she wrote on Instagram on Friday.
“The level of support I’ve been receiving is immeasurable. I wasn’t able to return earlier, but I’m happy to let you know that everything is good. There’s a lot of false information circulating, but that’s a topic for the future…”
Vavilova illustrated the post with a photo of herself and several postcard-style pictures of Paris, including the Eiffel Tower, a view of the Seine and the Notre-Dame cathedral.
Prior to Durov’s arrest, Vavilova had put up posts on social media in the same locations as the Telegram tycoon – including Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, and Azerbaijan – as well as the interior of his private jet. Neither Vavilova nor Durov has made any announcements about a possible relationship, however.
This fueled speculation that Vavilova could have been an intelligence operative of the “honeypot” variety, with a mission to bring Durov to France where he could be arrested. One of the most popular conspiracy theories had her working for the Israeli Mossad.
The Telegram founder, who claims to have fathered over 100 children through sperm donation, hold the passports of Russia, France, the UAE, and St. Kitts and Nevis. He reportedly told French police detaining him that he was due to have dinner with President Emmanuel Macron, which the French leader has denied.
Durov did not mention the dinner invitation, or Vavilova, in his first public comments following the arrest. Posting both on Telegram and X on Thursday, he described the allegations against him as “surprising” and “misguided” for using “laws from the pre-smartphone era to charge a CEO with crimes committed by third parties on the platform he manages.”
French authorities have charged Durov with a dozen offenses, ranging from refusal to cooperate with authorities to administering an online platform allegedly used by organized crime for illegal conduct, such as trafficking and child sexual abuse. He was granted bail of €5 million ($5.5 million) and forbidden from leaving France pending the proceedings.
Durov and his brother created Telegram in Russia in 2013. The app has since grown to almost a billion users globally and ten million paid subscribers. Telegram offers encryption for incoming and outgoing messages, enhancing privacy for both sender and recipient, and generally denies user data or chat records to law enforcement. Durov claims that this has drawn unwanted attention from intelligence agencies worldwide.
