Rumors emerged before Maze’s exit that it had the backing of the Russian government. A member of the “leaks market” alleged that two members of Maze gang were Maxim Yakubets and Konstantin Kozlovsky. But the attempt to tie an alleged cybercrime kingpin to the Maze operation may simply have been sour grapes on the part of REvil and other rivals. A post to RaidForums offers to share the identities of a ransomware-as-a-service operation’s leadership for a price.”]
Source: https://www.careersinfosecurity.com/do-ransomware-operators-have-russian-government-nexus-a-15925