WASHINGTON, March 26. /TASS/. Russia will not run after the US if Washington is unwilling to cooperate in the field of security, Moscow’s Ambassador to Washington Anatoly Antonov told reporters.

"I will put it simply: this is the US choice," he noted, commenting on White House National Security Council Strategic Communications Coordinator John Kirby’s remark that "there’s not going to be any security assistance with Russia and the United States" following a terrorist attack on a music venue outside Moscow.

"If the Americans don’t want to cooperate with us, we won’t run after them, as I have said," the envoy stressed. However, he highlighted the need to resolve the problem of terrorism through joint efforts. "In the current situation, we will work with our friendly countries - it’s more than half the world - including our friends from the Commonwealth of Independent States, as well as the Shanghai Cooperation Organization and BRICS," Antonov emphasized. According to him, Russia has repeatedly said that Washington "cannot do it alone." "Alas, it was the United States that suspended counterterrorism cooperation with us. We aren’t running after them (the Americans - TASS) and have no plans to do so. We will work on our own to eradicate the roots of terrorism as they still are some left in Russia, unfortunately," he added.

On the evening of March 22, a terrorist attack targeted the Crocus City Hall music venue in Krasnogorsk, Moscow Region, just over the Moscow city limits. At least 139 people were killed and 182 suffered injuries. Eleven individuals suspected of being involved in the terrorist attack have been apprehended, including four gunmen who were detained in the Bryansk Region, southwest of Moscow, as they attempted to seek refuge by crossing the nearby Ukrainian border. Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address that, according to preliminary information, the Ukrainian side had prepared "a window" in the border especially for the terrorists to cross undetected. He vowed to identify and punish all those who were behind the attack.