Russia protests arrest of hacker Seleznev, demands release

In an official protest, or demarche, presented to a representative at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, the Russian Foreign Ministry has demanded that the U.S. immediately release a Russian hacker arrested last week in Guam, according to a report by the Russian's ITAR-TASS News Agency.

Roman Seleznev was picked up in an airport in the Maldives and whisked away to Guam on charges that he had hacked into point-of-sale (POS) systems at a bevy of Washington, D.C. area restaurants to steal, then sell credit card information. 

The arrest of Seleznev, the son of a Russian lawmaker, drew immediate cries of foul from Russian officials, who claimed that the 30-year-old hacker had been kidnapped by the U.S.

 In a statement, the Ministry called the arrest “a flagrant violation of the legitimate rights and interests of the Russian citizen,” a Reuters report said.