Russian programmer held in Spain; link to US poll hacking likely

A Russian computer programmer, Pyotr Levashov, has been arrested in the Spanish city of Barcelona, apparently in connection with hacking during the US presidential election.

A spokesman for the Russian embassy in Madrid confirmed Levashov's arrest on Sunday, but left it unclear why Levashov was arrested. The embassy spokesman declined to give details for his arrest, and Spanish police and the interior ministry were not immediately available for comment.

Russian television station RT reported that Levashov was arrested under a US international arrest warrant and was suspected of being involved in hacking attacks linked to alleged interference in last year's US election.

Peter Carr, a spokesman for the US Justice Department's criminal division, said, "The US case remains under seal, so we have no information to provide at this time."

The criminal division is separate from the national security division, which is responsible for investigating state-sponsored cyber crimes.

A US Department of Justice official said it 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.

In January, Spanish police arrested another Russian computer programmer, whose name was given as "Lisov" and who was wanted by the United States for leading a financial fraud network.

The US government has formally accused Russia of hacking Democratic Party emails to help the campaign of Republican President Donald Trump. The US Congress is also examining links between Russia and Trump during the election campaign.

Russian officials, including President Vladimir Putin, have repeatedly denied that Russia tried to influence the election.