RUSSIA OPPOSES EXTRADITION OF ALLEGED HACKER

MADRID Russian authorities are fighting the extradition of an alleged Russian hacker from Spain to the United States, the suspect’s lawyer said Friday, in the latest move by Moscow to block U.S. prosecution of suspected Russian cybercriminals.

Pyotr Levashov, a 37-year-old known as one of the world’s most notorious hackers, was arrested earlier this year while vacationing with his family in Barcelona on a request from the U.S., where authorities want him on charges of fraud and unauthorized interception of electronic communications.

Levashov’s lawyer, Margarita Repina, said a Russian counter-extradition request was filed with Spanish authorities Thursday, hours before a hearing in Madrid to decide whether he should be handed to U.S. authorities.

Authorities in the U.S. have linked Levashov, via his alias “Peter Severa,” to a series of powerful botnets, or networks of hijacked computers capable of pumping out billions of spam emails.

His arrest is part of a series of U.S.-initiated operations over the past year to seize the alleged Russian cybercriminals outside their homeland, which has no extradition treaty with the U.S.

Speaking through a court translator, Levashov, pictured, said he didn’t want to be sent to the U.S. because he feared for his life and didn’t want to be tortured during detention on U.S. soil.