In Armenia, a Russian was confused with a hacker and detained at the request of the United States.

In Armenia, a Russian was detained at the request of the United States, mistakenly mistaking him for an extortionist hacker wanted by Interpol. This was announced on July 16 by lawyers of the Moscow bureau "MOORE" Mikhail Mushailov and Rajavi Dilan.

Izvestia had an Interpol document at its disposal. It states that the wanted hacker participated in attacks using the Sodinokibi (REvil) ransomware. This is a computer virus that was developed by a hacker group from Russia. In 2022, her activities were suppressed by the FSB.

The document also says that more than 1,000 people and organizations, including private companies, government agencies, educational and medical organizations in the United States, have become victims of hacker attacks. Among the attacks is an attack on the municipal government of Texas.

According to Interpol, the suspect was one of the administrators of the platform and, according to the American authorities, received more than $13.7 million as a result of criminal activity.

At the same time, according to Mushailov and Dylan, the detained Russian does not have the same patronymic as the data of the person put on the international wanted list by Interpol. Despite this, Armenian law enforcement agencies detained him for subsequent extradition to the United States. The man has been in the isolation ward for about two weeks.

According to Interpol materials, the arrest warrant was issued by the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas on June 26, 2026. If extradited, the Russian could face up to five years in prison in an American prison. The detainee's lawyers insist that the security forces made a mistake in identifying the perpetrator, and only a partial match of the name cannot be a sufficient reason for extradition to Washington.

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In January 2022, the FSB suppressed the activities of the REvil criminal community, whose members were embezzling money using malicious software. The basis for the search activities was the appeal of the United States. The FSB has established the full composition of REvil and the involvement of its members in the illegal circulation of funds.

Over 426 million rubles were seized at the addresses of the members of the criminal community, including in cryptocurrency, $ 600 thousand, € 500 thousand, as well as crypto wallets and computer equipment. About 10 defendants were arrested. The US administration welcomed the operation of the Russian special services.

Commenting on the FSB operation, Sergey Radhant, an independent information security researcher and author of the Russian OSINT project, told Izvestia that the REvil hacker criminal community was unlikely to resume its activities. However, Oleg Skulkin, head of the Group-IB computer forensics laboratory, noted that important REvil participants, including the developers and partners of the virus, may remain at large. The hacker group itself has stopped activity.