Spain detains Russian over US vote 'hacking': legal source

A Russian computer expert was remanded in custody in Spain on Monday on suspicion of involvement in alleged hacking of the US presidential election campaign, a legal source said.

Piotr Levashov, who was arrested at Barcelona airport on Friday, has been singled out by the United States for extradition in a request which is due to be examined by Spain's national criminal court, the source said.

Levashov is "suspected of having participated in hacking the election campaign in the United States," the source said.

US officials would not confirm the reason for the arrest, but one suggested it could be for something other than election interference.

Justice Department spokesman Peter Carr declined to comment on the matter, saying the indictment of Levashov "remains under seal."

Levashov is believed by some computer security experts to be a Russian hacker known as Peter Severa, who was charged in a US spam email case in 2008.

In that case, Severa accepted "hundreds of thousands of dollars" from a US-led ring that used millions of spam emails to support a "pump and dump" stock market manipulation scheme.

Spanish police on Sunday said Levashov had been arrested on Friday "following an international complaint" and had been transferred to Madrid.

From the date of arrest, Washington has 40 days to present its legal case for extradition to the Spanish authorities.

US intelligence agencies in January publicly accused Russia of hacking the 2016 presidential campaign in a bid to sway the outcome in favour of Republican candidate Donald Trump.

Trump, who won the November vote, has vehemently denied accusations of collusion, and Moscow has also laughed off the allegations.

Speaking to Russia Today television late on Sunday, Maria Levashova said her husband had been detained "at the request of the American authorities in connection with cyber crime".

She said the Spanish police had told her it was in connection with "a virus which appears to have been created by my husband (and) is linked to Trump's victory."

The Spamhaus Project, which tracks spam and cyberthreats, said Levashov and Severa are one and the same.

Spamhaus said he writes and sells proxy-spamming software and is "probably" involved in creating computer viruses and trojans.

Levashov is "one of the longest operating criminal spam-lords on the internet" who works with many other Eastern European and US-based botnet spammers, it said.

Computer security expert Brian Krebs also said Levashov and Severa appeared to be the same person.

Krebs called Severa "a pivotal figure" in Russian cybercrime forums.

As the moderator of some online spam-related communities, Severa "served as the virtual linchpin connecting virus writers with huge spam networks -- including some that Severa allegedly created and sold himself," Krebs said on his website.

It was the second prominent arrest at Washignton's request of a Russian tied to hacking this year.

In mid-January, another Russian computer expert wanted by the US, Stanislav Lisov, was arrested at Barcelona's El Prat airport as he was about to board a flight.

He was jailed on January 13 after being questioned via videoconference by a judge in Madrid's National Court, which investigates suspected crimes that have an international remit.