Civil servants and military personnel were banned from using Telegram

Civil servants and military personnel were banned from using Telegram on duty. Now the Telegram messenger cannot be used in state bodies, military formations and critical infrastructure facilities.

This is reported by the National Security and Defense Council of Ukraine (NSDC).

An exception will be made only by those employees for whom the use of this messenger is part of their official duties.

This decision was made at a meeting of the National Coordination Center for Cyber Security (NCCS). Threats to national security related to the use of the Telegram messenger were discussed there.

The head of the Main Directorate of Intelligence of Ukraine (known as GUR) Kyrylo Budanov cited data that Russian special services have access to the personal correspondence of Telegram users, even to deleted messages and personal data.

"I have always stood up and stand up for freedom of speech, but the issue of Telegram is not a matter of freedom of speech, it is a matter of national security," he stressed.

Representatives of the Security Service of Ukraine (SBU) and the General Staff of the Armed Forces of Ukraine noted that the enemy actively uses Telegram for cyber attacks, the distribution of phishing and malicious software. In this way, the Russians can determine usersʼ geolocations, adjust missile strikes, etc.

The head of the Center for Combating Disinformation at NSDC Andriy Kovalenko noted that it is not about personal smartphones — the decision only applies to official devices.

"Simply put, civil servants, military personnel, critical infrastructure workers should not use Telegram on official computers," he wrote.

• Andriy Yusov, a representative of the State Government of Ukraine, spoke about the fact that the Telegram messenger contains a number of threats to the security of Ukraine. At that time, he said that Ukraine is building communication with the administrations of all platforms, in particular with Telegram, in order to work according to the rules.
• Only 9% of surveyed citizens of Ukraine support the complete blocking of the messenger, another 54% believe that it should be partially limited, for example, by blocking some channels.