South Korea's Kim Jong Yang has been elected as Interpol's next president, edging out a longtime veteran of Russia's security services who was strongly opposed by the US, Britain and other European nations.
The White House and its European partners had lobbied against Alexander Prokopchuk's attempts to be named the next president of the policing organisation.
They said his election would lead to further Russian abuses of Interpol's red notice system to go after political opponents.
Prokopchuk is a general in the Russian Interior Ministry and serves as an Interpol vice president.
Kim's win means he secured at least two-thirds of votes cast at Interpol's general assembly in Dubai on Wednesday.
South Korea's Kim Jong Yang (pictured) has been elected as Interpol's next president, edging out a longtime veteran of Russia's security services who was strongly opposed by the US, Britain and other European nations
He will serve until 2020, completing the four-year mandate of his predecessor, Meng Hongwei, who was detained in China.
It comes after Britain and America made a last-ditch bid to prevent Moscow's chosen candidate.
Prokopchuk had been named as the likely successor to Meng, who was arrested by Chinese authorities over alleged corruption.
According to The Times, a prominent Ukrainian MP has accused Mr Prokopchuk of being a foreign intelligence agent who has served in the KGB.
Yesterday senior UK politicians and human rights groups decried his candidacy and called for him to be stopped from getting the top job.
Chief of the Russian Interior Ministry's National Central Bureau of Interpol, Major General Alexander Prokopchuk, had been named the likely successor of Hongwei Meng as head of the policing agency
Russia's use of Interpol 'red notices' has been questioned after US businessman and Vladimir Putin critic, Bill Browder (left) and Chechen exiled envoy Akhmed Zakayev (right) have been detained under the controversial warrants
Liberal Democrat leader Sir Vince Cable warned Interpol risked becoming a 'branch of the Russian mafia' if he was elected.
And the Foreign Office threw its weight behind South Korean candidate Kim Jong-yang.
Four US senators said his appointment would be akin to 'putting a fox in charge of a henhouse' as they and a former FBI deputy director joined the opposition.
And officials in Ukraine and Lithuania said they would consider withdrawing from Interpol if he was elected.
But government sources were said to be 'gloomy' about the chances of stopping him, The Times reported.
All Interpol's 194 member states had a vote in the secret ballot held in Dubai.
In the Commons, Lib Dem leader Sir Vince Cable called on the Government to campaign against Mr Prokopchuk. He said even the possibility of his election demonstrated that the police organisation was 'potentially corrupt.'
He said: 'If this Russian gentleman were to become head of Interpol it would be an absolute insult to the victims of the Salisbury attack.'
He added it would also be 'a massive propaganda victory for the Putin regime' and 'amount to accepting that Interpol has become a branch of the Russian mafia'.
The Government confirmed it would not support the frontrunner's promotion from his role as vice president. Foreign Office minister Harriet Baldwin said Britain supported South Korea's Kim Jong-Yang.
The potential appointment of Alexander Prokopchuk had increased concerns that Russia had been using the international policing agency to target political opponents. Former Interpol President Meng Hongwei (right) is still missing after he was detained by Chinese authorities
And in an open letter, the cross-party group of US senators said: 'Russia routinely abuses Interpol for the purpose of settling scores and harassing political opponents, dissidents and journalists.' The senators accused Mr Prokopchuk of being 'personally involved' in this strategy since being elected to Interpol's executive committee.
Concerns have long been raised over Russia's applications for Interpol Red Notices, or arrest warrants, for critics of the Kremlin.
British financier Bill Browder said the move was a bid by Russian president Vladimir Putin to 'expand his criminal tentacles to every corner of the globe'.
Mr Browder, who was arrested in Spain this year under a Moscow-issued Red Notice, secured US sanctions against the Russians linked to the death of his tax consultant.
Similar notices have also been issued under a British request for the Russian agents accused of poisoning Sergei and Yulia Skripal in Salisbury - Alexander Mishkin and Anatoliy Chepiga.
Browder, who claims Russia has used Interpol six times to abuse him, compared the appointment to Nazi Germany's control of the agency in the 1930s.
He tweeted: 'Russian tipped to take over Interpol in Kremlin victory. This is absolutely astonishing, but not without precedent. Nazi Germany took over Interpol in the 1930's.'
Former US ambassador to Moscow Michael McFaul said the candidacy was 'worrying for anyone who believes in the rule of law'.
Russian opposition leader Alexei Navalny, who has been repeatedly jailed, also attacked the move.
'Our team has suffered from abuse of Interpol for political persecution by Russia,' he said.
'I don't think that a president from Russia will help to reduce such violations.'
Meng was missing for several days last month before the Chinese authorities confirmed he had been detained over bribery allegations.
A letter of resignation, purporting to come from Meng, was later sent to Interpol informing it of his decision to step down as president.
His wife, Grace, who is in hiding in France, revealed he sent her a text message with a knife emoji on the day he went missing and she remains 'extremely' concerned about his safety.
Her husband, whose whereabouts are still unknown, is the latest high-profile target to be ensnared in China's sweeping anti-corruption campaign as Interpol was accused of colluding with Russia over his detention.
The Kremlin denounced Mr Prokopchuk's critics, with Putin's spokesman saying: 'This is interference... in the election to an international organisation.'
Moscow's interior ministry attacked a 'foreign media campaign aimed at discrediting Russia's candidate'.
Linkhienalouca.com
https://hienalouca.com/2018/11/21/south-korean-named-new-interpol-president-after-us-and-britain-opposed-bid-by-ex-kgb-man/
Main photo article South Korea’s Kim Jong Yang has been elected as Interpol’s next president, edging out a longtime veteran of Russia’s security services who was strongly opposed by the US, Britain and other European nations.
The White House and its European partners had lobbied against Alexander...
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Emily Ratajkowski is a showman, on and off the stage. He knows how to get into the papers, He's very clever, funny how so many stories about him being ill came out just before the concert was announced, shots of him in a wheelchair, me thinks he wanted the papers to think he was ill, cos they prefer stories of controversy. Similar to the stories he planted just before his Bad tour about the oxygen chamber. Worked a treat lol. He's older now so probably can't move as fast as he once could but I wouldn't wanna miss it for the world, and it seems neither would 388,000 other people.
Dianne Reeves Online news HienaLouca
https://i.dailymail.co.uk/1s/2018/11/21/07/6461704-6412557-image-a-2_1542786266871.jpg
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