Thursday, February 13

Putin thanks Trump for tip that prevented terror attack


 

 

Russian President Vladimir Putin thanked President Trump during a call on Sunday for information that helped prevent a terrorist attack in St. Petersburg, Russia’s Interfax news agency reported.

Putin asked Trump to thank the director of the CIA and agency operatives for sharing the information, according to the report, which cited the Kremlin.

The Russian president also assured Trump that Russian intelligence officials would immediately pass on any information the obtain on terrorist threats against the U.S., the Russian news outlet added.

“The Russian President thanked his American colleague for the information passed on by the Central Intelligence Agency, which helped detain a group of terrorists preparing explosions in St Petersburg’s Kazansky Cathedral and other busy sites in the city,” the Kremlin said, Reuters reported.

White House press secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders confirmed the two leaders spoke on Sunday, adding that more details would be announced shortly.

Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) announced late last week that seven suspected followers of the Islamic State of Iraq and Syria (ISIS) had been arrested for allegedly plotting an attack in St. Petersburg, The Associated Press reported.

The agency reportedly found and seized explosives and other weapons while searching apartments in the city.

Russian TV stations also aired footage of FSB agents detaining an individual who later confessed that he was ordered to build “homemade bombs rigged with shrapnel,” the AP reported.

The arrests come after over a dozen people were killed and nearly 50 others injured in a suicide bombing in in the St. Petersburg’s subway in April.

The two leaders also spoke last week.

President Trump thanked President Putin for acknowledging America’s strong economic performance in his annual press conference, the White House said in a readout of the call.

The two presidents also discussed working together to resolve the very dangerous situation in North Korea, the White House added.