Maldivian authorities detained Russian hacker in response to Interpol Red Notice: U.S. Embassy

Maldivian authorities detained Russian national Roman Valerevich Seleznev following the issuance of an Interpol Red Notice for Seleznev in relation to indictments that allege serious charges of bank and computer fraud in the U.S., a spokesperson at the U.S. Embassy in Colombo said on Wednesday.

The spokesperson stressed that the apprehension of Seleznev was a law enforcement action based solely on law enforcement considerations by Maldivian authorities.

“The indictment in this case was returned on March 2011, and thus long predates any current issues involving Russia and the United States. It has nothing to do with any of those issues. Nor was this a ‘kidnapping' or in any way illegal,” said the U.S. Embassy spokesperson.

The spokesperson also said that Seleznev was arrested following his expulsion from another country, acting under its own laws, and that he was advised of his rights and given consular notification.

“These actions also were in no way inconsistent with any treaty arrangements with Russia,” said the spokesperson.

Roman Seleznev was arrested Saturday at an airport in Maldives. Russian paper RT has reported that he was put on a flight to Guam, a U.S. territory 8,000 kilometres east of Maldives.

The Russian government has said that it considers Seleznev’s arrest as “a new hostile move by Washington”, and has accused the U.S. of ignoring proper procedure in dealing with foreign nationals suspected of crimes.

Moscow has also demand that the Maldives government provides necessary explanations for Seleznev’s arrest.