Pavel Durov, 38, is the founder and owner of messaging app Telegram. The billionaire has been called the “Mark Zuckerberg of Russia.”

Durov, who was born in St. Petersburg in Soviet Russia, has a net worth of $15.1 billion, per Forbes.

The tech entrepreneur cofounded encrypted-messaging service Telegram with his brother Nikolai in 2013. The brothers were born into a family of intellectuals, according the Digital-Life-Design Conference website. Durov spoke at the conference in January 2012.

Much of Durov’s wealth comes from Telegram, which has 700 million active users and is valued at $30 billion.

Durov did not reply to Insider’s requests for comment for this story.

Before founding Telegram, Durov founded a Russian social network called Vkontakte. The site brought him fame and money — but it also made him a target of the Kremlin.

A post shared by Pavel Durov (@durov)

Durov created the network in 2006 and went on to sell a 12% stake in the company for $300 million in 2015.

The site brought him fame: He became known as Russia’s “biggest celebrity entrepreneur,” per The New York Times. But it also came with political trouble, namely…