Russia's Federal Security Service says instant messengers are terrorists' roadways

A year after a deadly terrorist attack on the St. Petersburg subway, Federal Security Service chief Alexander Bortnikov revealed that instant messengers were used in every successful terrorist attack (four) and every thwarted terrorist plot (25) in Russia throughout 2017.

In all cases, terrorists coordinated “through a global network using messengers, including from territories in Iraq and Syria.” Bortnikov says terrorists also used cryptocurrencies to finance their activities, though he didn’t clarify if the FSB advocates new regulations in this area. He also said the development of “a single anti-terrorist information space” is promising.

On Tuesday, April 3, Russia’s Federal Investigative Committee reminded the public that the individuals who orchestrated and carried out the April 2017 subway attack in St. Petersburg never actually met in person and relied entirely on the instant messenger Telegram.

On April 4, the deadline passed for Telegram to surrender encryption keys to the FSB. The company says it can’t comply with the order because it doesn’t store these keys.