Macron stated that he knew nothing about Pavel Durov's visit to France.

French President Emmanuel Macron stated that he didn't know» about the visit of the founder of the Telegram messenger Pavel Durov to his country and had not planned to meet with him. This is reported by Reuters.

«I absolutely didn't know about Mr. Durov's arrival in France, and this is quite normal, because I don't know about the arrivals and departures of citizens from around the world, regardless of whether they have French citizenship or not», – Macron said at a press conference on Thursday during a two-day visit to Serbia.

Earlier, the newspaper Le Canard enchaîné reported that Durov told the police officers who arrested him upon exiting the plane, «that he was expected for dinner with Emmanuel Macron».

At the same Time, the French president stated that he wasn't going to meet with the founder of Telegram.

As Reuters notes, Macron supported France's decision in 2021 to grant Durov French citizenship through a rare procedure for high-ranking individuals.

«This is part of a strategy that allows women and men, whether they are artists, athletes or entrepreneurs, when they make efforts to learn the French language and develop wealth, innovations... to obtain French citizenship», – said the president.

Recall, Durov was detained in France on August 24 after landing in Le Bourget. As stated by the Paris prosecutor's office, he is suspected of involvement in the commission of 12 crimes: all of them are related to the use of Telegram. In particular, illegal transactions and the use of the platform by fraudsters were mentioned.

As reported, the founder of the Telegram messenger Pavel Durov was released under judicial supervision in France. Durov was charged. He is prohibited from leaving the territory of France and must report to the police twice a week.

Notably, according to The Wall Street Journal, French President Emmanuel Macron met with the founder of Telegram Pavel Durov for lunch in 2018. During the meeting, the French leader offered the businessman to move the messenger's headquarters to Paris.