Washington grossly interfered in the election of the president of the International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) to prevent the Russian candidate from being elected its chief, Russian Foreign Ministry Spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said on Thursday.

"The pre-election period was accompanied by an unprecedented campaign of misinformation, pressure and defamation. Unfortunately, it was launched against the candidate for this position from Russia at the United States’ instigation," the diplomat said.

According to Zakharova, Washington even departed from its own principled approach of not disclosing preferences at elections to international organizations, using its diplomats and embarking on the path of preventing the election of Russia’s candidate. "Let’s call a spade a spade. Actually, there was gross interference in the internal affairs of an independent international organization, which describes itself as a depoliticized and purely professional community," she pointed out.

Such actions are inadmissible and damage Interpol’s reputation and standing, Zakharova stressed. She also thanked those countries, which, "despite blatant pressure, spoke out in favor of the Russian representative’s professionalism, experience and competence."

South Korea’s Kim Jong Yang was elected President of Interpol for a two-year term on Wednesday. Former Interpol chief, Meng Hongwei, resigned in October after being detained in China on suspicion of corruption. Two main candidates to replace him were Kim Jong Yang and Russia’s Alexander Prokopchuk.

On Monday, a group of US senators from both parties made public an open letter to US President Donald Trump, asking him to influence members of the Interpol General Assembly in order to prevent Russian national Alexander Prokopchuk from becoming the new Interpol head.

Prokopchuk has served as the head of Interpol’s National Central Bureau at the Russian Interior Ministry since 2006 and the Vice President of the International Criminal Police Organization since 2016.