Russian hacker wanted by US tells court he worked for Putin's party

Russian hackers have been under intense scrutiny since US intelligence officials accused Moscow of interfering in last year's US presidential election.

MOSCOW: A Russian hacker arrested in Spain on a U.S. warrant said on Thursday he previously worked for President Vladimir Putin's United Russia party and feared he would be tortured and killed if extradited, RIA news agency reported.

Peter Levashov was arrested while on holiday in Barcelona in April. U.S. prosecutors later charged him with hacking offences, accusing him of operating a network of tens of thousands of infected computers used by cyber criminals.