An alleged former KGB agent who was tipped to be Interpol’s next president has been rejected by its member states amid concerns over Russian abuses of the red notice system.
The UK and US governments were opposed to Alexander Prokopchuk, a general in Russia’s interior ministry, becoming the new head of the international police organisation.
There were claims that the Vladimir Putin ally had abused Interpol’s arrest warrant system, and critics voiced fears that it would be abused even further to go after Russia’s political opponents if Prokopchuk took over the post.
Interpol’s 194 member states rejected Prokopchuk – the police body’s vice president – on Wednesday and instead elected Kim Jong Yang of South Korea to a two-year term.
The vote was held at a meeting of Interpol’s annual congress in Dubai, and it was welcomed by members of Theresa May’s Cabinet.
Home Secretary Sajid Javid tweeted: "Warmly welcome the election Kim Jong Yang as President of @INTERPOL_HQ. His clear win comes despite Russia’s best efforts. Encouraging victory for rules and rights-based security cooperation."
Foreign Secretary Jeremy Hunt wrote on Twitter: "Excellent news! But to be clear any foreign office source blaming home office for closeness of election is wrong: international elections are an FCO responsibility."
Concerns were also raised when the previous Interpol president, Meng Hongwei, was elected, because he was a senior official in the Chinese government, which has also been accused of misusing the red notice system.
The latest election was sparked after Meng was arrested in China during a purge against allegedly disloyal or corrupt officials.
Kim will serve a two-year term to complete the last half of Meng’s four-year term.
Interpol’s charter states its neutrality but its use of red notices has at times been criticised as politically-motivated.
Marina Litvinenko, the widow of poisoned dissident Alexander Litvinenko, was among those who urged Interpol’s member states not to elect Prokopchuk.
She claimed that critics of Vladimir Putin in the UK will not feel safe if a Russian candidate becomes the president of Interpol.
She also claimed Prokopchuk would not be an "independent" figure and could instead act in a politically-motivated manner.
Mrs Litvinenko’s ex-spy husband was killed in 2006 with radioactive polonium-210 in London in an attack blamed on a Russian intelligence operation.
She told BBC’s Newsnight that having a Russian as president of Interpol would lead to abuse of the "red notice" system for arresting people wanted for extradition.
"Everybody who is asking for political asylum here in the UK now will not feel safe at all," she said.
Tory MP Bob Seely, an expert in Russian affairs, told the programme: "Putting … a general, a senior representative of one of the most criminalised governments on earth in charge of Interpol makes a mockery of the organisation in principle.
"It looks dreadful and it is only going to increase the likelihood of Russia to abuse the red notice system still further."
In the Commons on Tuesday, Foreign Office minister Harriett Baldwin said the UK supported the rival candidate, South Korea’s Kim.
US National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis also backed the South Korean candidate and said the Russian government "abuses Interpol’s processes to harass its political opponents".
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