Russian suspect arrested in Spain ‘over American election hacking’
● Pyotr Levashov held in Barcelona on US computer crimes warrant
An alleged Russian hacker has been detained in Spain at the request of American authorities.
The arrest sparked speculation after a Russian broadcaster raised the possibility that it was linked to the US presidential election.
Pyotr Levashov was arrested in Barcelona on Friday on a US computer crimes warrant, according to a spokeswoman for Spain’s National Court.
Such arrests are not unusual – American authorities try to arrest Russian cybercrime suspects abroad because of the difficulty in extraditing them from Russia – but Levashov’s arrest drew attention after his wife told Russia’s RT broadcaster he was linked to the 2016 US election hacking. RT quoted Maria Levashova as saying that armed police stormed into their flat in Barcelona overnight, keeping her and her friend locked in a room for two hours while they questioned her husband.
She said that, when she spoke to him on the phone from the police station, he said he was told he had created a computer virus that was “linked to [Donald] Trump’s election win”.
Mrs Levashova did not elaborate, and the nature of the allegations was not clear.
Malicious software is routinely shared, reworked and repurposed, meaning that even the creator of a computer virus may have little or nothing to do with how the virus is eventually used.
Levashov’s name is familiar in cybercrime circles. He has been alleged to be spam king Peter Severa, according to Brian Krebs, a journalist who has written extensively about the Russian cybercrime underworld, and Spamhaus, a group which polices spam.
Levashov himself could not be reached for comment and the US embassy in Spain declined to comment.
Russian embassy spokesman Vasily Nioradze confirmed the arrest but would not say whether he was a programmer, as reported by RT. He would not comment on the US extradition order.
“As is routine in these cases, we offer consular support to our citizen,” he said. The Spanish spokeswoman said Levashov remains in custody.
The arrest came after claims of Russian interference in last year’s US presidential election.
Following the release of emails from the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton’s campaign chairman John Podesta, US intelligence concluded that Russia was behind the leaks.
An assessment by the Office of the Director of National Intelligence expressed “high confidence” that Russia favoured Mr Trump over Ms Clinton, and that Russian President Vladimir Putin ordered an influence campaign to harm her electoral chances and “undermine public faith in the US democratic process”.