An alleged Russian hacker has been detained in Spain at the request of the US, an arrest that has set cybersecurity circles abuzz after a Moscow broadcaster suggested links to the US presidential election.
Pyotr Levashov was arrested on Friday in Barcelona on a US computer crimes warrant, a spokeswoman for Spain's National Court said.
Such arrests are not unusual - US authorities typically try to nab Russian cybercrime suspects abroad because of the difficulty involved in extraditing them from Russia.
However, Levashov's arrest drew immediate attention after his wife told a Russia's RT broadcaster he was linked to America's 2016 election hacking.
RT quoted Maria Levashova as saying armed police stormed into their apartment in Barcelona, keeping her and her friend locked in a room while they quizzed Levashov.
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She said that when she spoke to her husband on the phone from the police station, he told her he was told he had created a computer virus that was "linked to Trump's election win".
Levashova did not elaborate.
The US embassy in Spain declined to comment and Russian embassy spokesman Vasily Nioradze confirmed the arrest but did not comment further.
