He has been labeled as Telegram’s real brain — to some even the éminence grise — behind the app’s main selling point to its nearly 1 billion users: privacy from prying eyes, including those of governments.
While Pavel was the muscular, jet-setting face of the operation, a Russian tech prince flirting with the limelight, Nikolai was his technical pillar, as Woz was to Steve Jobs during Apple’s early days.
It was Nikolai who drew up the MTProto protocol that has attracted so many users with the promise of security — including those with nefarious intentions — and become a headache for the French authorities.
“My brother, being the genius that he is, he was able to create this encryption standard that we’re using up until this day with minor changes,” Pavel said in an interview with right-wing pundit Tucker Carlson. “He’s an expert in cryptography, he designed the basic principles of Telegram’s encryption.”
Seemingly attesting to Nikolai’s role in the company, French authorities have also issued a warrant for him, POLITICO reported last week. But Nikolai might be harder to grab by the collar than his brother, who was detained Aug. 24 upon arriving in Paris on his private jet.
While Pavel fled Russia in 2014, Nikolai is reported by some Russian media to still be inside the country, though POLITICO has not been able to independently confirm those reports. Nikolai is also reported to have a passport from Saint Kitts and Nevis — like his brother — as well as Latvian citizenship.
