«The Russian government hates him too.»
Telegram is one of few popular messengers that are NOT blocked/prohibited in Russia. So government and Durov have some agreement.
The government’s first attempts to ban it, a year ago, resulted in entire sections of the web, online stores, services—even the Kremlin museum’s ticket sales—being inadvertently blocked. But the messaging app has adopted a clever system of changing IP addresses that currently outsmarts the government ban.
Meanwhile, users have continued to access Telegram through VPNs, or virtual private networks, which have become increasingly popular.
It is difficult or impossible to block Telegram in Russia.
https://decrypt.co/6454/russia-internet-ban-block-telegram-m...
You ever hear of ANoM?