"Any government that likes to call themselves democratic should welcome Snowden and allow him to live..." — 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.

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.