Russian citizen Astamirov arrested in U.S., charged with cybercrime - Justice Dept

WASHINGTON. June 15 (Interfax) - Russian citizen Ruslan Astamirov has been arrested by the authorities in the United States on charges of being involved in hacker attacks on U.S. companies.

"[A] Russian national [has been] arrested and charged with conspiring to commit LockBit ransomware attacks against U.S. and foreign businesses," the U.S. Department of Justice said in a statement on Thursday.

The 20-year-old native of Chechnya has "allegedly participated in a conspiracy with other members of the LockBit ransomware campaign to commit wire fraud and to intentionally damage protected computers and make ransom demands through the use and deployment of ransomware." If convicted, he faces up to 20 years in prison on the first charge and could be jailed for up to five years on the second charge.

The U.S. authorities believe that Astamirov played a part in deploying ransomware on websites and in other cyberattacks on computer systems in the U.S., Asia, Europe and Africa. According to the lawsuit, "at least as early as August 2020 to March 2023, Astamirov allegedly participated in a conspiracy [...] to commit wire fraud and to intentionally damage protected computers and make ransom demands through the use and deployment of ransomware."

Astamirov is due to make his first court appearance later on Thursday.

In May 2023, the U.S. Department of the Treasury added Russian citizen Mikhail Matveyev to its sanctions list because, according to Washington, he is involved in cyberattacks on the infrastructure of U.S. law enforcement agencies and enterprises.

The courts of the District of New Jersey and the District of Columbia issued indictments against Matveyev, the Department of the Treasury said then in a statement. The U.S. Department of State, in turn, announced "an award of up to $10 million for information that leads to the arrest and/or conviction of Matveyev."

According to the Department of the Treasury, "Matveyev has been a central figure in the development and deployment of the Hive, LockBit, and Babuk ransomware variants, among others."