Interior minister and SBU dpty head believe it’s advisable to restrict the use of Telegram to minimize recruitment and terrorist attack

Ukrainian Interior Minister Ihor Klymenko and Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) Ivan Rudnytsky advocate regulating Telegram to minimize the enemy's recruitment of Ukrainian citizens to commit terrorist attacks.

At a briefing in Kyiv on Monday, the minister noted that Telegram is most often used for recruiting people to commit sabotage and terrorist attacks.

"In percentage terms, I think it's about half," he clarified.

Responding to a question about whether the Ministry of Internal Affairs considers it necessary to restrict Telegram's use, Klymenko said: "Regarding Telegram's use, that's not just a question for the Ministry of Internal Affairs or the Security Service of Ukraine. It's a question that society, too, should answer."

"If this concerns the fundamentals of security... common sense and protection... it's impossible to ban anything that's prohibited. Restricting and ensuring the work that will help us reduce the number of such crimes, specifically terrorist crimes—perhaps this is something we need to talk about," the Interior Minister emphasized.

Deputy Head of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU), Ivan Rudnytsky, noted that he shares the minister's position and added: "Not only law enforcement agencies, but also other relevant government agencies... must strengthen certain regulatory functions in this area, in terms of limiting and preventing these information resources or internet resources from being used for illegal and terrorist activities."