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Russian senator castigates US for interference in Interpol election

A group of four US senators earlier issued a statement, urging US President Donald Trump and the Interpol General Assembly to block the Russian candidate’s run

© EPA/WALLACE WOON

MOSCOW, November 21. /TASS/. The election of the Interpol’s president offers a vivid example of the United States’ interference in elections, Russian Federation Council (upper house of parliament) Foreign Affairs Committee First Deputy Chairman Vladimir Dzhabarov told TASS.

"This is a vivid example of the US interference in elections. Americans do it all the time, everywhere, at any level, in any country and any international organization. It is enough for them to voice their opinion, talk to other countries’ delegations and the result will be what they want it to be," the senator said.

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South Korea’s Kim Jong Yang elected new Interpol chief

Dzhabarov added that the position of the Interpol’s president was a technical one so the election of a South Korean candidate would not affect Russia in any way. "The Interpol is just a database collecting information from interior ministries and intelligences services across the world," he noted.

According to the Russian senator, extradition requests are usually forwarded to the country which is expected to search for wanted criminals and extradite them. "That is all. Countries can either respond to such requests or show no response. We haven’t faced any harm," he said.

Earlier on Wednesday, Interpol Interim President Kim Jong Yang of South Korea was elected as the organization’s new President. The election took place at the 87th Interpol General Assembly in Dubai. Former Interpol President Meng Hongwei resigned in October after he had been arrested in China on suspicion of corruption.

A group of four US senators earlier issued a statement, urging US President Donald Trump and the Interpol General Assembly to block the Russian candidate Major General Alexander Prokopchuk’s run. In their letter they said that Interpol electing Prokopchuk as its new President would be like "putting a fox in charge of the henhouse."

Prokopchuk has served as chief of the Russian Interior Ministry's National Central Bureau of Interpol since 2011 and as Interpol’s Vice-President for Europe since 2016.

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