Pavel Durov’s Near-Death Experience Revealed
Pavel Durov, the founder of Telegram, suspected he was poisoned by a “strange neighbor” during what he describes as an assassination attempt back in 2018. This incident left him unable to walk for several weeks.
The billionaire tech leader has kept this unsettling experience under wraps for almost ten years. “It was the only moment in my life that I thought I was dying,” Durov shared in a conversation with podcaster Lex Fridman.
During this period, Durov and his brother were working on a digital ledger project, raising over $1.7 billion in just three months. However, his troubles intensified when Telegram faced backlash in both Russia and Iran.
Returning to his rental townhouse after a long day, he discovered something left by his “strange neighbor” at his door. An hour later, as he lay in bed, he began feeling violently ill. “I felt pain all over my body,” he recalled, struggling to make it to the bathroom as his body began to shut down.
Vision blurred and breathing became difficult. “It’s all very acutely painful,” Durov explained. “My heart, my stomach, all my blood vessels… I was certain, ‘Yes, this is it.'” The fear of imminent death swept over him.
He fell to the ground and regained consciousness the next day to a harsh realization—his body felt weakened, as if his blood vessels were “broken.” “Nothing like this ever happened to me,” he remarked, noting that he couldn’t walk for two weeks thereafter.
During this troubling time, Durov isolated himself, keeping quiet about his health crisis and distancing his team to avoid causing them worry.
A tech entrepreneur who co-founded VK, a Russian social networking site, in 2006, Durov launched Telegram in 2013. The app has gained substantial traction on both sides of the ongoing conflict in Ukraine, with officials utilizing it for urgent communications.
Governments worldwide have placed Telegram under scrutiny, citing its role in facilitating global issues like drug trafficking and fraud. In August 2024, Durov was arrested upon arriving in France, facing charges related to the platform’s operations.
Accused of multiple offenses, he faced judicial oversight that prevented him from leaving France for several months. He eventually negotiated terms to regain some freedom but still finds himself mired in legal concerns.
Durov expressed that the experience has altered his perspective on life. “After surviving this kind of thing, you feel like you’re living in bonus time,” he said. “In a way, you died a long time ago, and every day you get is a gift.”
Interestingly, Durov noted striking similarities between his situation and that of Sergei Skripal, a British double agent, who was poisoned around the same time in the UK, further deepening the mystery surrounding his health scare.
