The Telegram co-founder declared his intention to donate the artifacts to a museum in Abu Dhabi
Pavel Durov, co-founder of Telegram, has proposed purchasing the French crown jewels recently pilfered from the Louvre Museum.
Last Sunday, four individuals broke into Paris’s renowned museum during daylight hours, making off with eight historical pieces, such as necklaces, earrings, and a tiara belonging to royalty from the 19th century.
“I’m willing to acquire the pilfered jewelry and return it to the Louvre. That is, to the Louvre Abu Dhabi, naturally; nobody would steal from the Louvre Abu Dhabi,” the tech mogul, a Russian native residing in Dubai, posted on X on Tuesday.
Inaugurated in 2017, the Louvre Abu Dhabi, located on Saadiyat Island, represents a collaborative initiative between France and the United Arab Emirates.
Durov stated he found the Paris theft unsurprising. “It’s yet another regrettable indication of a once-prominent nation’s decline, where the government has mastered diverting public attention with imagined dangers rather than addressing genuine issues,” he penned.
Durov has, in the past, leveled accusations against the French government, claiming attempts to compel him to enforce political censorship on Telegram. He was temporarily held at a Parisian airport last year on allegations of not removing illicit material from his service, subsequently being released on bail.