Durov's journey to this New York rooftop had begun four years earlier. In December 2011, he was home alone when armed men in camouflage fatigues began rapping violently on the door of his St. Petersburg apartment. Peering through the windows, he saw he was surrounded. The men shouted to be let in.
Mashable: Pavel Durov
Kremlin wanted Pavel Durov to shut down the pages of one activist in particular: Alexei Navalny who had become famous for his blog that exposed the corrupt schemes and lavish lifestyles of some of the country's top officials.