Russian arrested over US election hacking

An alleged Russian hacker has been detained in Spain at the request of American authorities, an arrest that set cyber security circles abuzz after a Russian broadcaster raised the possibility it was linked to the US presidential election.

Pyotr Levashov was arrested on Friday in Barcelona on a US computer crimes warrant, according to a spokeswoman for Spain’s National Court, who spoke on condition of anonymity in line with court rules.

Such arrests aren’t unusual — American authorities typically try to nab Russian cyber crime suspects abroad because of the difficulty involved in extraditing them from Russia — but Levashov’s arrest drew immediate attention after his wife told Russia’s RT broadcaster that he was linked to America’s 2016 election hacking.