A Moscow fertility clinic claims to offer would-be mothers the chance to conceive a child by one of Russia’s most successful entrepreneurs for free.
Pavel Durov, the billionaire founder of messaging platform Telegram, has fathered six children with three different partners.
But the 40-year-old is believed to have around 100 more after he donated sperm on a mass scale to dozens of couples in 12 different countries.
AltraVita IVF clinic – a facility located in Moscow’s southwestern Akademicheskaya region known for its high concentration of scientific and educational establishments – boasts not only that it has samples of Durov’s sperm, but that the tech tycoon will finance the whole procedure.
‘Pavel Durov is willing to finance all the IVF protocols that use his sperm. It is a very generous contribution to society from someone who wants to help those dreaming of becoming parents,’ the offer on AltraVita’s website reads.
Speaking to Russia’s RTVI outlet, AltraVita CEO Sergei Yakovenko – also an associate professor of biophysics at the prestigious Moscow State University – confirmed the offer is real and explained he was a long-time friend of the Telegram founder.
It comes after an earlier report last July by Russia’s E1 news outlet claimed those interested in utilising Durov’s sperm would have to shell out some 35,000 rubles (£330), not including the cost of insemination.
Candidates would also reportedly have to meet a litany of requirements set out in an intensive questionnaire.
In an interview this week with France’s Le Point magazine, the tech mogul declared he plans to leave his £17 billion fortune to all of his offspring, adding that he saw no difference between the children he conceived naturally and those who came from sperm donations.
‘They are all my children and will all have the same rights’, Durov said. ‘I don’t want them to tear each other apart after my death.’
But none of them will get any cash for 30 years, he added.
‘I want them to live like normal people, to build their lives on their own, to learn to trust themselves, to be able to create – not to be dependent on a bank account’.
The billionaire first revealed that he had fathered several children via sperm donation last year after a Russian woman based in Switzerland claimed that he was the father to her three children.
Irina Bolgar, 44, claimed in Russian Forbes that Durov had fathered her daughter and two sons, born in St Petersburg in 2013, 2016 and 2017, and that they carry his name.
She also admitted knowing about Durov’s sperm donation.
In a post to his own Telegram profile last year, Durov addressed the claims he had fathered more than 100 children and said donating sperm was his ‘civic duty’.
He also explained how he came to be a sperm donor in the first place.
‘Fifteen years ago, a friend of mine approached me with a weird request. He said that he and his wife couldn’t have kids due to a fertility issue and asked me to donate sperm at a clinic for them to have a baby…
‘The boss of the clinic told me that ‘high quality donor material’ was in short supply and that it was my civic duty to donate more sperm to anonymously help more couples,’ he wrote.
‘Fast forward to 2024, my past donating activity has helped over a hundred couples in 12 countries to have kids. Moreover, many years after I stopped being a donor, at least one IVF clinic still has my frozen sperm available for anonymous use by families who want to have kids,’ he said, likely in reference to AltraVita.
He went on to explain that he planned to ‘open source’ his DNA, enabling his biological children worldwide to find and connect with one another.
Durov, whose messaging platform has over one billion monthly active users around the world, has been dubbed the Mark Zuckerberg or Elon Musk of Russia.
His fortune is estimated at up to £17billion and he remains the sole owner of Telegram despite widespread pressure to sell the business.
Born in Russia, Durov spent many of his childhood years in Italy before returning to his homeland when his father, a scholar in ancient Roman literature, landed a new job at St Petersburg University.
At the age of 21, he set up VKontakte (In Contact), a social media site that came to be known as the ‘Facebook of Russia’.
When he refused to provide data on Ukrainian protestors to Russian security agencies in 2014, he was effectively forced to relinquish control of VKontakte.
This, he said, was the main factor that motivated him to leave Russia for good.
It was the Russian government’s desire to censor and surveil, and the absence of any secure form of online communication network in Russia, that gave Durov the idea for Telegram.
The entrepreneur launched Telegram but struggled to settle in several cities, including Berlin, London and San Francisco, because of ‘bureaucratic hurdles’ put in his way.
He retains dual French and Emirati citizenship, but ultimately decided to headquarter Telegram in Dubai rather than Paris.
‘I chose Dubai because I can manage a global company there much more efficiently,’ he told Le Point.
‘Unlike France, where bureaucracy is heavy, Dubai offers an agile environment. The procedures are automated there, supported by artificial intelligence, and almost everything is done online. Even justice is faster there.
‘In France, a simple tax investigation can freeze a company’s accounts for years, until it suffocates, even if it is later cleared. This kind of heaviness kills the entrepreneurial spirit,’ he said.
Last year, the tech mogul was detained and charged by French authorities amid an investigation into crimes related to child pornography, drug trafficking and fraudulent transactions associated with his app.
In March, he denied any wrongdoing and recounted his frustration to Le Point earlier this week.
‘It’s totally absurd. Just because criminals use our messaging service among many others doesn’t make those who run it criminals… Nothing has ever been proven showing that I am, even for a second, guilty of anything,’ he said.
Durov is compelled to remain in France while the judicial procedure continues,.
