Pastafarian Pavel Durov Choses Exile

Pavel Durov, 30, was seen as Russia’s Mark Zuckerberg. He founded a social network, VKontakte, which is more popular in Russia than Facebook, and made a splash by publicly offering Edward Snowden a job.



Then the Kremlin tightened its grip over the Internet and President Vladimir V. Putin’s allies took control of VKontakte. Mr. Durov eventually sold his remaining stake for millions and fled Russia in April, after resisting government pressure to release the data of Ukrainian protest leaders.



Durov has also described himself, with tongue in cheek, as a Pastafarian, a quirky atheistic ‘faith’ that can involve wearing a colander on your head.



Read more here: Once Celebrated in Russia, Programmer Pavel Durov Chooses Exile - NYTimes.com