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Russian billionaire and Telegram CEO Pavel Durov has offered to buy back jewelry that was stolen from Paris' iconic Louvre museum. In posts shared on October 21, the 41-year-old criticized the French government and offered to buy and donate the stolen artifacts to Louvre Abu Dhabi.
For the unversed, a gang of four thieves broke into Louvre's Apollo Gallery on Sunday morning. As per The Guardian, they entered via a ladder and escaped with eight pieces of precious Napoleonic jewelry. According to Financial Express, they dropped the crown of Empress Eugénie while escaping, which was then found in a damaged condition. The crown was adorned with 1,354 diamonds.
Louvre's curator reportedly estimated that the price of the stolen goods was about €88 million.
According to Celebrity Net Worth, Pavel Durov's net worth currently stands at $14 billion. The tech billionaire, who is often dubbed 'Russia's Mark Zuckerberg,' critiqued the French government and the Louvre heist in a post on October 21.
"Not at all surprised by the Louvre heist. It's another sad sign of the decline of a once great country where the government has perfected the art of distracting people with phantom threats instead of confronting the real ones," wrote Durov.
In the comment section, X user @Sisic_Harun claimed to have stolen the relics from Louvre. In response, the Telegram CEO asserted:
"Happy to buy the stolen jewelry and donate it back to the Louvre. I mean Louvre Abu Dhabi, of course; no one steals from Louvre Abu Dhabi."
The museum authorities have yet to respond to the comments made by Pavel Durov. However, the posts have gained much traction online, amassing over a million impressions on X.
Pavel Durov recently warned about the "dark dystopian future" of the internet
On October 10, 2025, Telegram CEO Pavel Durov turned 41. Instead of celebrating his birthday, the tech billionaire stressed the allegedly "dark" and "dystopian" future of the internet in an elaborate post on X. According to him, the internet was slowly turning into the ultimate weapon for mass control.
"I’m turning 41, but I don’t feel like celebrating," he started. Our generation is running out of time to save the free Internet built for us by our fathers. What was once the promise of the free exchange of information is being turned into the ultimate tool of control.
Pavel Durov went on to cite various measures taken by countries across the world to allegedly take the mantle of online freedom from the common people. He alluded to the infamous Malicious Communications Act by the UK, and other laws in countries like Germany, France and Australia.
"A dark, dystopian world is approaching fast — while we’re asleep. Our generation risks going down in history as the last one that had freedoms — and allowed them to be taken away," continued Durov.
The Telegram CEO ended his lengthy post by asserting that people were directed towards "self-destruction" because they were being influenced to "destroy everything" left by their forefathers, i.e., "tradition, privacy, sovereignty, the free market, and free speech."
"So no, I’m not going to celebrate today. I’m running out of time. WE are running out of time," he ended.
Durov's message has gathered almost 10 million impressions on X as of writing, including a repost from fellow tech billionaire Elon Musk.
