Anger as ‘former KGB agent’ tipped to be the next head of Interpol
BRITAIN joined forces with the United States last night to try to stop an alleged former KGB officer becoming the next president of Interpol.
Critics are stunned that Russian interior ministry veteran Alexander Prokopchuk is favourite to win the role in a vote today.
His election would be an ‘insult’ to the victims of the Salisbury poisonings, Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable said yesterday.
According to The Times, a prominent Ukrainian MP has accused Mr Prokopchuk of being a foreign intelligence agent who has served in the KGB.
The Interpol election is being held to replace former president Meng Hongwei, who is being held in China on bribery allegations.
In the Commons, Sir Vince called on the Government to campaign against Mr Prokopchuk. He said even the possibility of his election demonstrated that the police organisation was ‘potentially corrupt.’
He said: ‘If this Russian gentleman were to become head of Interpol it would be an absolute insult to the victims of the Salisbury attack.’ He added it would also be ‘a massive propaganda victory for the Putin regime’ and ‘amount to accepting that Interpol has become a branch of the Russian mafia’.
The Government confirmed it will not support the frontrunner’s promotion from his role as vice president. Foreign Office minister Harriet Baldwin said Britain supported South Korea’s Kim JongYang, who is acting president.
A cross-party group of US senators branded choosing Mr Prokopchuk as akin to ‘putting a fox in charge of a henhouse’.
In an open letter, they said: ‘Russia routinely abuses Interpol for the purpose of settling scores and harassing political opponents, dissidents and journalists.’ The senators accused Mr Prokopchuk of being ‘ personally involved’ in this strategy since being elected to Interpol’s executive committee.
Concerns have long been raised over Russia’s applications for Interpol Red Notices, or arrest warrants, for critics of the Kremlin.
British financier Bill Browder said the move was a bid by Russian president Vladimir Putin to ‘expand his criminal tentacles to every corner of the globe’. Mr Browder, who was arrested in Spain this year under a Moscow-issued Red Notice, secured US sanctions against the Russians linked to the death of his tax consultant.
Former US ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul said the candidacy was ‘worrying for anyone who believes in the rule of law’.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been repeatedly jailed, also attacked the move.
‘Our team has suffered from abuse of Interpol for political persecution by Russia,’ he said.
‘I don’t think that a president from Russia will help to reduce such violations.’
The Kremlin denounced Mr Prokopchuk’s critics, with Putin’s spokesman saying: ‘This is interference... in the election to an international organisation.’
Moscow’s interior ministry attacked a ‘foreign media campaign aimed at discrediting Russia’s candidate’.
The new head of Interpol will be elected by secret ballot today.
All 194 member countries get a vote in Dubai.
‘Fox in charge of a henhouse’