Ukrainian hacker sought by US arrested

KIEV, Ukraine – Ukraine has arrested an alleged major computer hacker who has been sought by the United States for years.

The head of Ukraine’s national security service Ivan Bakanov said Tuesday that Mykhailo Rytikov was arrested in the city of Odesa, in an operation conducted in co-ordination with Britain and the U.S.

Bakanov said the operation found a data centre with about 150 servers and that study of the equipment indicated some were operated under “control and cover of the Russian special services.” Moscow hasn’t commented on the accusation.

Rytikov, a Ukrainian national, was indicted in the U.S. in 2013 with running a sophisticated hacking organization that stole at least 160 million credit and debit card numbers. But Washington and Ukraine don’t have an extradition treaty.