MPS slate Interpol candidate
Interpol has been infiltrated by Russia and the UK must work with other countries to set up an alternative, MPS have told the British Government.
Alexander Prokopchuk, a veteran of Russia’s interior ministry, has emerged as the favourite to be elected the next president of the international police cooperation body.
His election would be the ‘‘latest nail in Interpol’s coffin’’, Yvette Cooper and Tom Tugendhat, who chair the home affairs committee and foreign affairs committee, said on Tuesday.
Both the US and the UK have come out in opposition to the Kremlin-backed candidate, while Ukraine and Lithuania have threatened to pull out of Interpol entirely if he is elected.
In an open letter to the Government, the MPS said the development should ‘‘prompt a British rethink of the system of international law enforcement co-operation’’, and called for the UK to begin work with other countries to ‘‘develop a new transnational organisation comprising rights-respecting states’’.
‘‘Interpol plays a vital role in supporting the UK’S efforts to investigate crime and capture criminals who have left the country,’’ the MPS wrote.
‘‘But this system, set up to support law enforcement cooperation, has become increasingly abused by a number of states, in particular Russia. The UK should work with other countries to develop a new transnational organisation comprising rights-respecting states that can ensure more effective but also more legally grounded co-operation between law enforcement organisations.’’
News that Prokopchuk was the front-runner prompted frantic efforts across the spectrum in the UK, US and Europe to thwart his appointment.
Russia has faced criticism from the West for abusing the agency’s ‘‘red notice’’ system of international arrest warrants to target political opponents.
Prokopchuk, a major general, spent several years as head of the department responsible for issuing Russia’s red notice requests. He has been one of four Interpol vice-presidents since 2016.
Yesterday, the UK and the US pledged support for Kim Jong Yang, the South Korean acting president of Interpol.
Bob Seely, a Tory MP who sits on the foreign affairs committee, said: ‘‘A Putin crony at the head of Interpol would be so obviously an exceptionally bad thing for the organisation, and would give the Kremlin a unique ‘in’ into the international body that is meant to be fighting . . . transnational crime. It really does beggar belief that his candidacy even got that far.’’ –