MOSCOW, December 29. /TASS/. Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked his US counterpart, Donald Trump, for the information shared by special services that helped prevent terror attacked in Russia, the Kremlin press service said on Sunday after their telephone conversation.
"Vladimir Putin thanked Donald Trump for the information shared by the special services that helped prevent terror attacks in Russia," the press service said. "The two leaders also discussed a range of issues of mutual interest. They agreed to continue bilateral cooperation in the sphere of countering terrorism."
The conversation was initiated by the Russian side.
In his address to the nation after the neutralization of the leader of the Islamic State terrorist organization (outlawed in Russia), Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi, in October, Trump thanked Russia for its assistance to the operation. He said the United States had warned Russia about its plans to send the team involved in that operation via Syria’s regions controlled by Russian forces.
On October 17, director of Russia’s Federal Security Service Alexander Bortnikov said that the United States had shared information about a number of persons reportedly plotting terror attacks in Russia. He stressed that it hadn’t been the first time that such information had been provided.
In 2017, the US helped in the investigation of a plot to carry out a terrorist attack in the Kazan Cathedral in Russia’s St. Petersburg, while Moscow assisted in investigating the Boston Marathon blasts. According to Bortnikov, Russia maintains counterterrorism cooperation with other countries’ intelligence agencies as well.