Russian troll Anna Bogacheva freed in Belarus after arrest for US election tampering
Source: The Guardian
Russian troll freed in Belarus after arrest for US election tampering
Anna Bogacheva was detained and briefly threatened with extradition to the US after being named in Mueller report
Marc Bennetts in Moscow
Tue 15 Oct 2019 17.07 BST
Last modified on Tue 15 Oct 2019 18.02 BST
A Russian national charged with attempting to meddle in the 2016 American presidential elections was briefly threatened with extradition to the United States after being arrested in Belarus, before she was was freed by local authorities.
Anna Bogacheva was detained late on Monday evening by police at a hotel in Minsk, the capital of Belarus, while on holiday with her family, according to RIA Novosti, the Russian state news agency. Her lawyer said she had been detained under an international arrest warrant issued by the United States.
Bogacheva was one of 13 Russians indicted last year by the US justice department after the investigation into election interference led by the special counsel Robert Mueller. Three Russian entities, including a notorious state-backed troll farm called the Internet Research Agency, were also indicted.
Russias foreign ministry confirmed on Tuesday that Bogacheva had been arrested and said that it was providing consular assistance. But shortly after the foreign ministry statement, Russias embassy in Minsk announced that Bogacheva had been freed.
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Read more:
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2019/oct/15/russian-troll-freed-belarus-us-election-tampering