Maldives explains hacker

A team of Maldivian government officials has visited the Russian Embassy in Colombo, Sri Lanka, to explain the recent arrest of Russian national Roman Seleznev in the Maldives.

According to the U.S. Embassy in Colombo, Roman Seleznev was arrested by Maldivian authorities following an Interpol Red Notice in relation to indictments that allege serious charges of bank and computer fraud in the U.S.

The Ministry of Foreign Affairs said that Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Fathimath Inaya met with officials of the Russian Embassy in Sri Lanka today, and “explained the situation regarding sending the Russian national from the Maldives in response to an Interpol Red Notice”.

The ministry said that State Minister Inaya was confident that the close bilateral relations between the Maldives and Russia remain unaffected by this incident, and that she was assured by the Russian officials that Russia will work with Maldives to ensure that similar incidents are prevented in the future.

The meeting was also attended by Maldivian Ambassador to Sri Lanka Zahiya Zareer, Deputy Attorney General Ahmed Usham, and Chief Superintendent of Maldives Police Service Mohamed Riyaz.

Roman Seleznev, the son of Russian Member of Parliament Valery Seleznyov, was arrested on Saturday at Ibrahim Nasir International Airport (INIA) in the 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.