Telegram faces sanctions that have limited its ability to dispose of half a billion dollars worth of assets in Russia, underscoring geopolitical tensions and the impact on funding.
Russia’s National Clearing Depository (NSD) has frozen an estimated $500 million worth of Telegram bonds due to Western sanctions against the Kremlin, the Financial Times (FT) reported on Tuesday. TASR writes about it according to the Russian exile website novaygazeta.eu.
- Russian sanctions freeze $500 million in Telegram bonds.
- Telegram finances its growth by issuing and buying back bonds.
- The sanctions demonstrate Telegram’s dependence on Russian capital resources.
Telegram has issued several bond issues to finance itself in recent years, including a $1.7 billion issue in May 2025. According to sources familiar with the negotiations between Telegram and its investors, the company has already bought back most of the bonds due in 2026.
Freezing Russian bonds
But Russia’s latest frozen bond situation shows “the extent to which Telegram remains exposed to Russian capital, with sanctions complicating its debt repayments and buyback options,” the FT noted.
According to an unaudited report seen by FT reporters, Telegram’s revenue in the first half of 2025 grew by more than 65 percent to $870 million. Of that, nearly a third (about $300 million) came from “exclusive deals.” Their exact nature remains undisclosed, according to previous financial reports they may be related to the cryptocurrency Toncoin (TON).
Pavel Durov under pressure
The FT added that Telegram’s bondholders are “watching the French case closely” for signs that an initial public offering (IPO), which the company has reportedly been mulling for several years, could end.
Telegram founder Pavel Durov is currently facing charges in France that his company failed to fight illegal financial transactions, drug trafficking, money laundering, organized crime and the distribution of child pornography.
Durov has four citizenships – native Russian and in 2021 he was naturalized in the United Arab Emirates and France. As part of the citizenship by investment program, he also owns a passport of the Caribbean state of St. Kitts and Nevis.
