Thai police have confirmed the detention on Phuket island at the request of the United States of a Russian citizen accused of hacking activities. This was reported by the official Russian news agency TASS on 13 November, citing information received by its correspondent in local law enforcement agencies.
Earlier, the police’s technology crime unit noted that the man in question is “a 35-year-old world-class hacker who attacked security systems of government agencies in Europe and the United States.” The cyber police said the suspect arrived in Thailand on 30 October and was living in Phuket province. On 6 November, he was detained at a hotel in Thalang District.
The detention operation was conducted together with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation. “Laptops, mobile phones and digital wallets were seized from the accused for technological examination”. The procedure for extradition of the hacker to the US may begin soon, Forbes writes.
The name of the detainee was not disclosed by the police. The publication “Votak” drew attention to the fact that among the hackers officially wanted by the FBI, only one matches the age specified by the Thai cyber police – it is a native of the Murmansk region Alexei Lukashev, a senior lieutenant of the Main Intelligence Directorate of the Russian General Staff, assigned to military unit 26165. he is wanted by the US authorities on suspicion of involvement in interference in the 2016 US presidential election.
In 2018, Lukashev was named by US authorities among 12 GRU officers accused of hacking Democratic Party servers. The hacking group Lukashev worked for is known as APT28, Fancy Bear, or Pawn Storm, The Insider notes.
The Kremlin has repeatedly denied any allegations of attempts to interfere in the US election campaign. Doubts in the conclusions of US intelligence agencies that Moscow repeatedly tried to influence American voters were also expressed by Republican Donald Trump, who won the 2016 election. Trump called the investigation a “witch hunt.” Special Prosecutor Robert Mueller concluded that Russia interfered in the election, but there was no collusion with Trump’s staff.