'Fox in a chicken coop': the United States and Ukraine are against the appointment of a Russian as president of Interpol

US Senators Group called on members of the Interpol General Assembly, as well as the White House, to oppose the candidacy for the post of President of the Russian organization Alexander Prokopchuk.

Photo: Press Service of the Ministry of Internal Affairs

“The choice of Major General Alexander Prokopchuk as president of Interpol is akin to appointing the fox responsible for the chicken coop,” the publication quotes Meduza.

According to the senators, Russia “regularly uses Interpol to settle accounts and attack political opponents, dissidents and journalists ”, and Prokopchuk allegedly personally participated in the“ strategy of intimidation ”aimed at“ weakening democratic institutions and strengthening the authoritarian regime of [Russian President Vladimir] Putin ”.

Previously, a possible suspension of Interpol membership was also announced in Kiev, writes NewsRu.

“Russia’s possible chairmanship of Interpol is absurd and contrary to the spirit and goals of the organization,” wrote the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine Arsen Avakov in his Twitter. “If the arguments of Ukraine and a number of other countries are not heard, then Ukraine will consider suspending its membership in ICPO.”

Lithuania will consider the possibility of leaving Interpol, if Alexander Prokopchuk, the representative of Russia is elected as its head, writes RBC.

In the Ministry of Internal Affairs, the countries stated that Lithuania would strive to ensure that Prokopchuk was not elected head of the international Interpol police organization.

According to the head of the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Lithuania, Eimutis Misyunas, if the current vice-president of Interpol Prokopchuk wins the elections, “Interpol will become a politicized instrument of the regime’s reprisals.”

“We see that Russia has previously made attempts to use international arrest warrants and the capabilities of Interpol to deal with activists of civil and democratic society in Russia, as well as with Lithuanian officials,” the minister said.

Election of the President of Interpol will be held in Dubai on November 21. The previous president, Meng Hongwei, was arrested in China, on suspicion of corruption. Alexander Prokopchuk, who became Interpol Vice President in 2016, is called the main candidate for the role of the new president.

Who is General Prokopchuk?

57-year-old Prokopchuk has been one of the four vice-presidents of Interpol for the past two years. Prior to that, he worked in the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia, says Air force.

Born Prokopchuk in Ukraine in 1961, he began his career in the Komsomol. In 1986, he moved to Moscow, worked in the education system, and then in the tax authorities.

Since 2003 - in the system of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, where he rose to the rank of major general, and from 2011 to 2016 he was the head of the national central bureau of Interpol under the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Russia.

Before his appointment to Interpol, Alexander Prokopchuk, writes the British Financial Times, for 10 years held the post of head of the department of legal regulation and organization of international interaction in the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and before that he was the head of the unit for combating economic and tax crimes. “The most corrupt sector,” the newspaper emphasizes.

What are the powers of the president?

Фото: Depositphotos

In fact, the president of Interpol is largely a symbolic position. According to Interpol regulations, it must:

• to preside and direct the debates at sessions of the genassambel and its executive committee;
• monitor the compliance of Interpol with the decisions of the General Assembly and the Executive Committee;
• whenever possible, to maintain constant direct communication with the Secretary General of the organization.

The operational management of Interpol and coordination between member countries is carried out by another body - the General Secretariat. Since 2014, it has been led by the representative of Germany, Jurgen Stock.

How does it work?

If a country wants to declare a person on the international wanted list, it sends a “red notice” to the organization’s general secretariat in Lyon. The notice is published on the Interpol website and sent to other countries.

Russia has repeatedly been accused of trying to get a “red notice” to search for opponents of the authorities in order to restrict their movement or to obtain extradition.

In Spain, on the initiative of the Russian authorities, they detained and then released international financier and investor William Browder. In Denmark, one of the former leaders of Chechen separatists, Akhmed Zakayev, was held for a month. A Russian corruption fighter and Nikita Kulachenkov, a colleague of Alexei Navalny, were detained in Cyprus. He was also not extradited to Russia, because the accusations against him were politically motivated.

Browder, after being detained in Spain, posted a photo of his arrest warrant on Twitter.

Russia also tried, through Interpol, to secure the arrest of the former head of the Moscow Anti-Doping Laboratory, Grigory Rodchenkov, who made statements about the doping system in Russian sports, as well as Ukrainian politicians, including Arseniy Yatsenyuk and Dmitry Yarosh.

“Prokopchuk poses a problem because he was the very person in the Russian Home Office who was responsible for concocting many of the fabricated Red Notices issued during his time at the Home Office,” the Times quoted former British Foreign Office special adviser David Clarke as saying.

In turn, Forbes columnist Ted Bromund recalls that during the years of work in the Russian bureau of Interpol, Prokopchuk had to prevent abuse of the organization’s rules. “Rather than stopping the abuse, he enabled and approved of it. The abuses were his responsibility,” says Bromund.

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