Telegram founder Pavel Durov stated that the attempt to "directly impose on the population" the Max messenger does not have successful examples in world practice. According to him, the leading positions of local messengers — WeChat in China, KakaoTalk in South Korea, and LINE in Japan — are the result of market competition.
WeChat was not appointed a "national messenger" and was not imposed on people. It became an absolute leader in the free competitive struggle of the early 2010s, offering Chinese users the best service out of dozens of contenders (including international messengers like WhatsApp*, available in those years without restrictions). Only after WeChat organically won the majority of the audience did the state begin to integrate its services into it.
Earlier, the press secretary of the President of the Russian Federation, Dmitry Peskov, told TASS that the work of foreign messengers is useful for the development of domestic Max in a competitive environment, but foreign services must comply with Russian laws.
Roskomnadzor has been slowing down the work of Telegram since February 10, warning that it will continue to restrict the messenger if it does not place servers in Russia and does not comply with Russian legislation. At the same time, the State Duma noted that the messenger does not fulfill about 70% of the requirements of the RKN, and the regulator's actions to possibly restrict Telegram "would be justified."
* WhatsApp belongs to Meta, recognized as an extremist organization in Russia.