Alexander Prokopchuk, a former major general at the Russian Interior Ministry, is likely to be elected as president of Interpol – the international police organization – as early as Nov. 21, according to international experts, sparking fears among Kremlin critics abroad and exiled opposition leaders here in Ukraine.
Prokopchuk – widely referred to as “the abuser-in-chief,” thanks to his alleged exploitation of the Interpol system during his two-year tenure as vice chair for Europe – will extend the usage of Interpol ‘Red Notice’ arrest warrants to serve Moscow’s political interests abroad, some observers are arguing.
Prokopchuk and the Kremlin have already faced serious criticism for their apparent willingness to issue international arrest warrants through Interpol that serve Russian political interests, while cracking down on critics, journalists and activists.
The presidency of Interpol has been left vacant since the October arrest, detention and disappearance in China of the former Chinese president Meng Hongwei, triggering an election this week at the Interpol General Assembly meeting in Dubai. Meng Hongwei, who served as Interpol president since 2016, was a former Chinese secret policeman who has been detained while under investigation for corruption, according to China’s government.
A Kremlin coup at Interpol
Sensing crisis at Interpol, Russia has acted quickly to champion the election of their presidential candidate who has been, for a number of years, manoeuvred into a powerful position at the international policing agency, observers say.
According to the British government, Prokopchuk’s election to the presidency is now ‘likely’, as reported by British newspapers on Nov. 19.
Bill Browder, the British financier, economist and outspoken Kremlin critic who was a prominent architect of the Magnitsky Act – an American law that allows U.S. authorities to sanction human rights abusers and freeze the assets of corrupt officials – said on Twitter that the Kremlin has spent some time setting the stage for their Interpol takeover.
“Here’s the room where Putin will attempt his most audacious operation yet: to take over Interpol so he can expand his criminal tentacles to every corner of the globe,” he wrote, sharing a photo from Dubai where the Interpol assembly will meet on Nov. 21.
Hours later, Russian prosecutors raised eyebrows when they announced they wanted to arrest the British economist and author for the 2009 murder of Russian accountant Sergei Magnitsky, who died in a Moscow prison after years spent tackling corruption in Russia.
“If Russia is allowed to take over Interpol, it’s like the mafia taking over global law enforcement,” Browder, who has fought extradition to Russia on charges that are widely regarded as politically motivated, told Newsweek on Nov. 19.
“Mr Prokopchuk is responsible for all the politically motivated arrest warrants issued by Interpol at the Kremlin’s request,” reads a media statement issued on Nov. 19 by Browder and Mikhail Khodorkovsky, founder of the Open Russia Movement and former political prisoner in Russia.
“The Kremlin has already used international arrest warrants [Red Notices] provided through Interpol to further its political interests, and the Kremlin has a long history of using this multilateral organisation to target its critics.”
High stakes for Ukraine and Russian exiles
“We are working with the Ukrainians to try and prevent this,” says Ilya Ponomarev, a former Russian member of parliament and staunch critic of Vladimir Putin who lives a life of exile in Kyiv.
“This is a guy [Prokopchuk] who was signing arrest warrants against me and against my friends and allies… they were all rejected by Interpol as politically motivated, but next time it could be different so of course we don’t want this kind of guy in charge.”
Ponomarev was flanked by SBU state security agents when he met the Kyiv Post at a restaurant next door to the Ukrainian Supreme Court on Nov. 19. He said that the threat to exiled Kremlin critics such as himself is very real.
The former Russian lawmaker was the only member of parliament in Moscow who voted against the 2014 annexation of Ukrainian Crimea and was forced into exile in Ukraine shortly after.
He accepted Ukrainian offers of an armed protective detail after the March 2017 assassination of his friend, Denis Voronenkov, another exiled Russian MP.
Voronenkov was gunned down in broad daylight on Kyiv’s central Pushkinska Street while on his way to meet with Ponomarev.
These days, it’s alleged that some Kremlin-supporters still have a price on Ponomarev’s head, that they think will help them gain favour in Russia, while some Moscow officials would like to see him extradited to Russia to face unknown, politically motivated charges.
“Russia abuses the procedures of Interpol to get their political opponents prosecuted,” he said. “I really hope the next president will be someone from a more neutral country with a good reputation… in terms of using Interpol procedures. There are plenty of good options.”
According to Ponomarev, if Russia takes the Interpol presidency they won’t only use it as a tool to crack down on their own critics and dissidents, but they’ll deploy it as a weapon against Ukraine too.
“Of course they will use Interpol as a tool against Ukraine… there are lots of Kremlin critics here, considered fugitives, and the Interpol tool will make their life very difficult,” he said.
Adrian Karatnycky, a senior fellow at the Atlantic Council think tank, says that a Russian appointment to the Interpol presidency at the moment would send a bad moral message.
“A repressive state at war with another state, [taking the presidency] creates a dangerous opportunity for the manipulation of the Interpol system,” he told Kyiv Post.
He said that Russia’s intelligence and security services are well known for interfering and subverting democracies and suggested western countries must oppose the Russian push to head Interpol.
“The election of a Russian official [to the Interpol presidency] will suggest that this is acceptable… it would legitimize the Russian repressive state and provide increased opportunity for mischief in the international security and policing system,” he said.
In Dubai on Wed Nov. 21, Ukrainian delegates to Interpol – backed by some allies from western countries – will do what they can to challenge and derail Moscow’s ambition.
If they fail, the country might withdraw from Interpol entirely, some government officials have said.
“The struggle [in Dubai] of the Ukrainian delegation, led by Interior Minister Arsen Avakov, is to prevent the election… of Alexander Prokopchuk,” said Anton Geraschenko, Ukrainian member of parliament and advisor to the interior ministry in a statement.
“[Prokopchuk is] the representative of an aggressor state, which regularly spits on human rights and international law… it cannot head the International Police Organization,” Geraschenko added.
“The head of Interpol should be a representative of a neutral state that respects human rights and does not wage aggressive wars,” he said.
