The most obvious fact is that Mr. Durov is not walking with a hole in his head, as a double digit portion of anybody who had balls to be audacious about their opposition, and is not known to have an extensive security detail.

The mob has sent hitment to people whose offences were way lesser than that.

Their ways are unyielding, and uncompromising. Putin has a record killing people who grieved him more than a decade ago, keeping trying for years on end. People he killed some times survived 2-3, even 4, assassination attempts over years, just to be eventually killed by yet another one.

Knowing that, it's hard to explain how Telegram kept maintaining an office in Russia.