Putin Thanks Trump for CIA Warning That Thwarted Bomb Plot
Putin thanked Trump for a CIA information on threats to blow up important locations in Russia.
(Bloomberg) -- Russian President Vladimir Putin spoke with Donald Trump for the second time in four days, this time to thank the U.S. president for Central Intelligence Agency information that lead to the breakup of a suspected Islamic State cell.
The information helped disrupt a group that had been planning to blow up Kazan Cathedral and other locations around St. Petersburg, according to a Kremlin statement on Sunday. The U.S. tip-off helped to “save many lives,” Putin’s spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, told reporters on a conference call Monday. White House Press Secretary Sarah Sanders confirmed the conversation on Twitter and in a statement.
Russia’s Federal Security Service, or FSB, said on Friday that it arrested seven suspected followers of the Islamic State who were plotting a suicide bombing and other attacks in Russia’s second-largest city. The attacks were planned for Sunday, according to a court filing, citing testimony from the main suspect.
The revelation of intelligence-sharing came as Putin and Trump face continuing resistance to their efforts to improve ties amid intensifying U.S. investigations into alleged Kremlin meddling in the 2016 elections to help the U.S. president win.
‘Work Together’
Trump told Putin he appreciated the call and stressed the importance of international cooperation in intelligence matters, the White House said in its readout of the conversation. Putin also thanked the CIA, and Trump called Director Mike Pompeo following his conversation with Putin to congratulate him, the White House said.
“Both leaders agreed that this serves as an example of the positive things that can occur when our countries work together,” the White House said in the readout.
Former U.S. ambassador to Russia, Mike McFaul, said intelligence cooperation is not new and should continue. “What is new is Putin trumpeting this cooperation in public. He is still courting Trump,” he said on Twitter.
Russia initiated Sunday’s conversation. The previous call, on Dec. 14, was made by Washington. Trump used it to thank Putin for “acknowledging America’s strong economic performance” during the Russian leader’s annual press conference earlier in the day. They talked about North Korea’s nuclear weapons program, as well as other bilateral issues, according to the Kremlin.
--With assistance from Catarina Saraiva Henry Meyer and Ilya Arkhipov
To contact the reporter on this story: Jake Rudnitsky in Moscow at jrudnitsky@bloomberg.net.
To contact the editors responsible for this story: Dale Crofts at dcrofts@bloomberg.net, Ros Krasny
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