Washington is behind the arrest of Telegram's CEO and founder Pavel Durov in France, the speaker of Russia's Duma, the lower house of parliament, Vyacheslav Volodin, said on Monday on the Telegram messaging app.

Without providing evidence, Volodin, said that the United States, through France, attempted to exert control over Telegram.

"Telegram is one of the few and at the same time the largest Internet platforms over which the United States has no influence," Volodin said in a post. "On the eve of the U.S. presidential election, it is important for (President Joe) Biden to take Telegram under control."

  - Reuters