Kremlin says U.S. is meddling in selection of Interpol head

[November 20, 2018]  MOSCOW (Reuters) - The Kremlin said on Tuesday that public opposition by a group of U.S. senators to a Russian candidate to head the international police organization Interpol amounted to election meddling.

Interpol's general assembly is due to elect a new head at a meeting on Wednesday. On Monday, four U.S. senators issued a statement urging U.S. President Donald Trump to oppose the candidacy of Russia's Alexander Prokopchuk.

The senators accuse Russia of abusing Interpol to settle scores and harass dissidents by issuing warrants, known as red notices, for their arrest. The senators said the election of Prokopchuk would allow Moscow to step up such abuse.

"This is probably a certain kind of interference in the electoral process of an international organization," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters on a conference call.

Prokopchuk, a former major general in Russia's Interior Ministry and current vice president of Interpol, is generally considered the leading candidate for the presidency.

Bill Browder, a British fund manager critical of the Kremlin who has been detained repeatedly at Russia's behest before being released again, said it would be "outrageous" if Prokopchuk was named to head the global police agency.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov attends a news conference of Russian President Vladimir Putin and his French counterpart Emmanuel Macron in St. Petersburg, Russia May 24, 2018. REUTERS/Grigory Dukor

"This particular individual has been responsible for trying to chase me down and have Interpol arrest me seven times," he said in comments to BBC radio.

"All of a sudden, this guy is now put in charge of the institution he's been trying to abuse for the last six years," he said.

(Reporting by Tom Balmforth, additional reporting by Michael Holden in London; editing by Andrew Osborn, Larry King)

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