MOSCOW (AP) — Russian authorities have ditched plans to ban a messaging app after its owner agreed to Russian registration.

Alexander Zharov, head of the Russian communications regulator, said in a statement on Wednesday that Telegram would be free to operate in Russia, despite previous threats to close it down, after its owner agreed to provide registration details to authorities.

Pavel Durov, founder of end-to-end encrypted messaging app Telegram, said earlier on Wednesday he would be willing to register it in Russia but insisted that he would not sharing privacy data as a new Russian law requires.

Authorities have been putting pressure on Telegram, with Russia's FSB security agency saying Monday that the app was used by a suicide bomber who killed 15 people in St. Petersburg in April.