.LONDON, England (AP) — Interpol is facing a pivotal — some say possibly fatal — moment in its history as members decide whether to hand its presidency to a man who represents Vladimir Putin's Russia.
Kremlin critics fear they could soon face arrest wherever they go. Western governments worry that Russia could use the post to undermine the rule of law.
Interpol, which elects a new president today, has weathered many challenges in its 95 years. While Hollywood has portrayed it as a hive of swashbuckling agents, in reality it's an organisation sometimes tangled in red tape and clashing geopolitical interests. Nazis took it over in the 1930s, and authoritarian governments have long tried to use it to hunt down fugitive dissenters.
But the latest storm of criticism comes at an exceptional time — just as Russia is trying to expand its global clout and as some powerful countries are questioning whether they need multilateral organisations like Interpol at all.
Interpol's general assembly is choosing the agency's new president at a meeting in Dubai where the front-runner is Alexander Prokopchuk, a general in Russia's Interior Ministry who is currently an Interpol vice-president. Interpol's interim president, South Korea's Kim Jong Yang, is also seeking the post.
Two prominent Kremlin critics warned yesterday that electing a high-placed Russian would undermine the international law enforcement agency and politicise police cooperation across borders.
Bill Browder, who runs an investment fund that had once operated in Moscow, and oligarch-turned-dissident Mikhail Khodorkovsky told reporters in London that Putin has tried to use Interpol to hunt down critics such as themselves. Having a Russian lead the agency could intensify such efforts to silence dissent, they said.
Activists argue that the organisation needs to increase recent efforts at muscular reform, and this won't happen if Prokopchuk becomes president, because of his ties to Putin.
“It was his government that organised a terrorist attack in the UK, using chemical weapons in Salisbury. It was his government that shot down MH17, killing 298 innocent individuals. It was his government that cheated and hacked in elections in the United States and Europe,” Browder said of Putin. “To put his representative in charge of the most important international crime-fighting organisation is like putting the mafia in charge.”
To Moscow, the complaints are all part of a Western-led campaign to weaken a resurgent Russia.
Russia denies accusations of foreign interference and announced new charges against Browder this week in a long-running legal battle against him. Russian Interior Ministry spokesman Irina Volk accused critics yesterday of running a “campaign to discredit” Prokopchuk, calling him a respected professional.
Browder has pressed for sanctions against Russian officials charged with human rights abuses after his former lawyer died in custody. Khodorkovsky, a former oil tycoon, spent a decade in prison after exhibiting political ambitions. Both said their notoriety would make them poor targets for abuse, adding that they were motivated to speak out because many other less-well-known campaigners would be silenced if governments are allowed to export repression.
The White House came out yesterday against the election of Prokopchuk, with National Security Council spokesman Garrett Marquis saying that “the Russian Government abuses Interpol's processes to harass its political opponents.” He said the US “strongly endorses” Kim
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