The chief executive of the Telegram messenger service, Pavel Durov, said on Friday the application will use built-in systems to circumnavigate a ban in Russia imposed by a court earlier on Friday.

File photo of Pavel Durov, founder of Telegram. Image: Reuters

He said on his page in the VK social network that he still cannot guarantee that Telegram users will retain access to the messenger without using virtual private networks (VPNs).

's self-exiled Russian founder Durov has long said he will reject any attempt by the country security's services to gain backdoor access to the app. The free application, which lets people exchange messages, photos, and videos in groups of up to 5,000 people, has attracted more than 200 million users since its launch in 2013.

Speaking to his followers on the Telegram group 'Durov's Channel', he stated that at Telegram they have the luxury to not care about revenue streams. He stressed that privacy was non-negotiable.

"The power that local governments have over IT corporations is based on money. At any given moment, a government can crash their stocks by threatening to block revenue streams from its markets and thus force these companies to do strange things (remember how last year Apple moved iCloud servers to China).

At Telegram, we have the luxury of not caring about revenue streams or ad sales. Privacy is not for sale, and human rights should not be compromised out of fear or greed," said Durov.
With inputs from Reuters