US security agencies have been trying to gain more control over Telegram for a long time, tech entrepreneur believes

Telegram CEO and founder Pavel Durov told American conservative journalist Tucker Carlson that he was receiving “pay close attention” from the FBI and other law enforcement agencies while on American soil, according to an interview released in April, several months before his arrest in France.

He also alleged that US agencies tried to recruit Telegram employees and convince them to create a backdoor in the messenger.

The Russian-born tech billionaire was arrested by French authorities at a Paris airport on Saturday, reportedly on charges related to his alleged complicity in fraud, drug trafficking, cyberbullying and promoting terrorism. However, Ekaterina Mizulina, head of Russia’s Safe Internet League, suggested that France was acting at the behest of the United States.

WATCH what Durov told Carlson about his life in the US: