Pavel Durov, Russia’s Zuckerberg, Is Done Hiding

Pavel Durov, who has built Russia’s largest social network, is known as being a bit of a recluse. As the world grew fascinated by the resiliency of Durov’s website VKontakte, which has so far successfully fended off advances by Facebook in Russia, the founder shunned countless opportunities to speak publicly. Before last month, the Mark Zuckerberg of Russia, as he’s known, had appeared on stage at just one technology event in Europe.

Now, Durov is breaking his silence. He was interviewed in front of a captive audience on Oct. 22 at the Global Mobile Internet Conference in San Francisco. The next week, he made a surprise appearance on stage at TechCrunch Disrupt Europe in Berlin and networked at an after party in a nightclub in Mitte, the city’s tech-hipster neighborhood.