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Russian police chief warns against politicizing Interpol

Vladimir Kolokoltsev said that his Saudi counterparts are committed to the same position

MOSCOW, May 27. /TASS/. Certain countries seek to expel Russia from Interpol, but it is inadmissible to politicize international police cooperation, Russian Interior Minister Vladimir Kolokoltsev said on Saturday in a televised interview on the Rossiya-24 news channel after his visit to Saudi Arabia.

"Bilateral contact in the war on drugs is crucial, since it is not a secret that certain countries exert any sort of pressure in order to have Russia expelled from international police cooperation, I mean [from] Interpol. We must not allow international police cooperation to be politicized," he said.

Kolokoltsev pointed out that his Saudi counterparts are committed to the same position.

"We have rather harsh criminal liability for such an offense, up to life [imprisonment]. Our Saudi counterparts have the death penalty [for these crimes]. The efficiency of our work, and most importantly, the methods of our work are certainly in demand for all our counterparts concerned," the Russian minister stressed.