Russian Arrested In Spain Over Suspicion Of US Election Hacking
by Tyler Durden
ZeroHedge.com
Apr 10, 2017
An alleged Russian hacker, Pyotr Levashov, has been detained in Barcelona at the request of the FBI, an arrest that set cybersecurity circles abuzz after a Russian broadcaster raised the possibility it was linked to the U.S. presidential election, AP reports. A spokeswoman for Spain’s National Court said that the Pyotr Levashov was arrested in response to a U.S. computer crimes warrant while a spokesman for the Russian embassy in Madrid confirmed the arrest on Sunday.
While it was not immediately clear why Levashov was arrested, Russian television station RT reported that Levashov was arrested under a U.S. international arrest warrant and was suspected of being involved in hacking attacks linked to alleged interference in last year’s U.S. election. Peter Carr, a spokesman for the U.S. Justice Department’s criminal division, said: “The U.S. case remains under seal, so we have no information to provide at this time.”
Defusing speculation that the arrest was in connection with the election hacking as some have suggested, Reuters reports that according to a U.S. Department of Justice official the arrest was a criminal matter without an apparent national security connection. Spanish authorities notified the Russian embassy of Levashov’s arrest on Friday, the embassy spokesman said.
The NYT adds that computer researchers who have linked the long-running computer spam business of the man known as Peter Severa to malware used in 2012 to influence a domestic election in Russia say his arrest could give other investigations important information. Levashov was arrested in Barcelona, where he had been vacationing with his family, according to a report on RT, a state-owned Russian television network. The report cited his wife, who said the Spanish police had detained Mr. Levashov at the request of the American authorities. Levashov’s wife Maria was quoted by RT as saying that her husband was arrested by armed police at their apartment in Barcelona. She said her husband told her he had been accused of creating a computer virus “linked to (President Donald) Trump’s election win.”
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