VK
Russia's answer to Facebook, founded by Pavel Durov — who was pushed out, started Telegram, and left the network to owners close to the state.
VKontakte ("in contact") launched in Saint Petersburg in 2006, and Pavel Durov's design was close enough to Facebook's that the comparison wrote itself. What set it apart was a relaxed attitude to shared music and film, which made it enormous across the former Soviet Union and notorious among rights holders.
In 2014 Durov left after refusing to hand over data on Ukrainian protesters, and Mail.ru Group took full control while he focused on Telegram. Mail.ru Group itself renamed to VK in 2021 and then ended up under owners tied to Gazprom. VK is also behind Max, the state-backed messaging app that began shipping preinstalled on Russian phones in 2025.