Putin hails US for helping prevent terror attack in Russia

(AP) – Russia’s President Vladimir Putin on Thursday hailed the FBI for sharing information that helped thwart a terror attack by adherents of the Islamic State group in St. Petersburg during the New Year holidays.

Speaking at a meeting with senior officials of the Federal Security Service (FSB), the top KGB successor agency, Putin said that “we are thankful to our partners for their support and professional solidarity in countering the common threat.”

He added that “we will naturally respond in kind.”

The FSB in December announced the detention of two Russian men who confessed to plotting the terror attacks in St. Petersburg.

Putin then called U.S. President Donald Trump to thank him for the tip.

In December 2017, Putin similarly thanked Trump for a CIA information that helped thwart a series of bombings in St. Petersburg. The Kremlin said then that the CIA tip led the FSB to nab a group of suspects that planned to attack St. Petersburg’s Kazan Cathedral and other crowded sites.

Russia-U.S. ties have sunk to post-Cold War lows after Russia’s 2014 annexation of Crimea, but Moscow and Washington have pledged to continue counter-terrorism cooperation.