Kremlin spokesman: Would not have blocked Telegram if it had observed the law

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends an awarding ceremony at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia April 6, 2018. Alexander Zemlianichenko/Pool via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that Russia would not have decided to block the Telegram messenger service if the company had fulfilled the requirements of Russian law.

"Restricting access has not been an aim," Peskov told a conference call, adding that a compromise would have been possible if the company had observed the law.

"Unfortunately, they did not manage to reach such a consensus," Peskov said.

(Reporting by Maria Tsvetkova; Editing by Hugh Lawson)