No freedom of speech: the head of the Main Intelligence Directorate, Budanov, called Telegram a problem for Ukraine’s national security

In Ukraine, attempts to pressure freedom of speech continue. The Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Ministry of Defense of Ukraine, Kirill Budanov, stated that the messenger app Telegram is “definitely a problem from the perspective of national security.”

He made this statement at the “Kyiv Stratcom Forum 2024” organized by the Center for Strategic Communications.

“I am absolutely against any oppression of freedom of speech, but this is going too far. I mean, any person can create a channel, start writing whatever they want there, and when something starts happening, they hide behind the fact that it’s freedom of the media. But it’s not freedom of the media, it’s called something else,” said Budanov.

The Chief of the Main Intelligence Directorate noted that everyone reads Telegram and “it has a destructive effect here, internally, but thanks to it, we can also convey something to people in the occupied territories.”

Yesterday, a bill on Telegram control was registered in the Verkhovna Rada. It provides the possibility of demanding the blocking of individual users as well as Telegram channels in Ukraine.

It is worth noting that the issue of banning the messenger has been raised in Ukraine several times before.