The pro-Russian hacking collective known as Killnet has been thrust into the spotlight again as its founder claimed that Arseniy Eliseev, who manages the Anonymous Russia Telegram channel linked to the group, was arrested in Belarus. The revelation was reported by Kommersant, a major publication in the region.
According to Killnet’s founder, the person behind the Anonymous Russia channel is 18 years old and goes by the nickname Raty. He is currently being held in SIZO-3, a detention facility in Gomel, Belarus.
In a pointed reflection on the event, the founder described Arseniy as a capable and patriotic individual, yet someone who sometimes acted carelessly. The remark suggested that Eliseev’s choices and standing within the community have come at a price, highlighting the uncertain consequences that can accompany involvement in such activities.
Earlier reports linked KillNet with high-profile intrusions against NATO information systems. A figure using the alias KillMilk claimed responsibility for breaching several NATO networks and exposing portions of private data belonging to members of the alliance. The statements asserted that KillMilk possessed methods associated with NATO-style operations and access to personal data of cadets and system administrators, along with control of a number of compromised computers. The archive reportedly contained gigabytes of sensitive information, and the price tag floated by the hacker included a sum of about three bitcoins, which at the time equaled roughly 7.5 million rubles according to the exchange rate cited on April 13, 2023.