Ukrainian Internal Affairs Minister: Ukraine may suspend membership with Interpol if it is headed by a Russian
The Minister of Internal Affairs Arsen Avakov stated that Ukraine might suspend its membership in the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) if a Russian heads it.
“Russia’s probable presidency in Interpol is absurd and contradicts the spirit and goals of the organization. In case the arguments of Ukraine and other countries will not be heard, Ukraine will consider suspending its membership in the ICPO,” he said on Twitter.
The need to elect a new head of Interpol arose after at the end of September, the head of the organization Meng Hongwei disappeared. At first, he was reported missing; then information appeared about his detention by the Chinese authorities. The 64-year-old official is under investigation but charges against him have not been made public. His place of detention is also unknown.
The frontrunner for the head of Interpol is the Major General of the Russian police, Alexander Prokopchuk, who from 2006 to 2011 was the deputy head of the National Central Bureau of Interpol of the Russian Ministry of Internal Affairs, and then headed this organization. In 2016 Prokopchuk became vice-president of Interpol.
Prokopchuk was born in Ukraine in 1961, and he studied at the Roman-Germanic faculty of the University of Kyiv.