MOSCOW, May 14. /TASS/. Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service maintains relations with more than 100 intelligence and special services, including from unfriendly countries, and these relations should not be severed, Sergey Naryshkin, a candidate for the Service’s director, said.

"The Russian Foreign Intelligence Service maintains partner relations with more than 100 intelligence and special services from friendly and unfriendly countries," he said at a plenary session of the Federation Council, or upper house of Russia’s parliament, which considered his re-appointment.

"As for the countries we categorize as unfriendly, these contacts are not severed, they remain intact but reduced from what they used to be. But we believe that they should be preserved even in such a difficult international situation so that we can resolve very pressing problems," he stressed.

According to Naryshkin, these contacts are needed "to reduce the high degree of distrust between the partners."