Pavel Durov

I consider myself a legal citizen of the world.

Armed police at my apartment doors in 2011 was scary, but the sudden - and not exactly legal - takeover of 48 per cent of VKontakte, that coincided with a fabricated case against myself in April 2013, was more frightening.

Any government that likes to call themselves democratic should welcome Snowden and allow him to live in their country.

Political oppositionary activity on the Russian Internet caused the government to pass laws limiting both service operators and users. As a result, the Russian tech environment became much less liberal, losing freedom as one of its competitive advantages.

To be truly free, you should be ready to risk everything for freedom.

Privacy is not for sale, and human rights should not be compromised out of fear or greed.

VK is famous for its competitions among third-party developers who build alternative versions of VK on its open API.