It is extremely rare for Ilya Yashin, a fierce critic of Vladimir Putin who was recently released from prison, and Margarita Simonyan, a rabid Kremlin propagandist, to find common ground.
But in the hours after the surprise arrest of Pavel Durov, the reclusive founder of the Telegram messaging app, both Yashin and Simonyan – along with thousands of other Russians across the political spectrum – united in demanding his release, underscoring the unique place Telegram holds as Russia’s most popular messaging app.
