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Lavrov says information about tighter flight security in US is no secret

Earlier, Trump’s national security advisor told a news briefing that Trump committed no violations when he shared with Lavrov some information related with the struggle against terrorism

NICOSIA, May 18. /TASS/. Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov sees no secret in what US President Donald Trump told him about the likely measures to tighten flight security within the framework of struggle against the terrorist threat. He made a statement to that effect after talks with his Cypriot counterpart Ioannis Kasoulidis.

"If my memory does not fail me, six to eight weeks ago the Trump Administration made a decision to prohibit passengers from seven Middle Eastern countries from talking on board any electronic gadgets. It was openly presented as an anti-terrorist measure," Lavrov said.

"If this is what everybody is talking about, I don’t understand where the secret is."

Earlier, Trump’s national security advisor Herbert McMaster told a news briefing that Trump committed no violations when he shared with Lavrov some information related with the struggle against terrorism, in particular, a likely decision to prohibit from bringing notebooks into the passenger compartments of planes arriving in the United States from Europe.

The United States introduced a similar rule in relation to flights from ten major international airports in Jordan, Egypt, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Marocco, Qatar, and the United Arab Emirates.

Washington suspected that passengers from these countries might bring on board explosive devices disguised as laptops. McMaster said none of those who were present at the May 10 meeting, "felt that there had been any wrongdoing". He described the conversation with Lavrov as a "routine exchange with the leaders with whom he (Trump) is interacting."

The Washington Post was the first to come up with allegations that Trump might have shared top secret information about the Islamic State group (outlawed in Russia) with Lavrov and Russian ambassador in Washington Sergey Kislyak. Trump said that in the capacity of the head of state he had every right to share information with Russia. He added that the data he presented to Russian diplomats would help fight against terrorism, including the Islamic State.