Kremlin praises US-Russia cooperation on terror fight

MOSCOW, Dec 18 (AFP): The Kremlin on Monday praised the "exemplary cooperation" between US and Russian security services after the CIA helped thwart a terror attack on a landmark Orthodox cathedral in Saint Petersburg.
In a phone call with US President Donald Trump on Sunday, Kremlin strongman Vladimir Putin expressed his gratitude for intelligence which allowed Russia's FSB security service to prevent attacks on the Kazan Cathedral, one of the best known symbols of Saint Petersburg, and other places.
Russia's FSB security service said last week it had arrested seven members of the Islamic State group who had been planning terror attacks in crowded areas of Russia's former Imperial capital.
Putin's spokesman Dmitry Peskov praised on Monday the case of "exemplary cooperation" between the security services of the two countries in the fight against terror.
"There are certain sporadic contacts between our security services but in this particular instance this (was) rather useful information that helped save a lot of lives," he told reporters.
"And certainly it cannot but cause satisfaction and gratitude," Peskov added. "These are the standards we should aspire to so that they determine the future course."
Putin has pledged that Russian security services would pass on any information received about terrorist threats to the United States.
It was the second time in a week that the Russian and US leaders have exchanged praise over the phone.
Bilateral ties have been in the doldrums for years, over Moscow's meddling in Ukraine, Western sanctions over Russia, and more recently allegations of collusion between Russia and members of Trump's election campaign.
Meanwhile, it was the kind of sitdown that China had long resisted: Top US officials telling Chinese counterparts how American troops would enter North Korea if the hermit regime collapsed.
US Secretary of State Rex Tillerson's recent revelation that such a discussion took place would-if true-suggest a major shift in Chinese policy as Beijing comes under pressure to rein in its Korean War ally.
For years Beijing had refused US entreaties to discuss the possible collapse of its neighbour, but top US and Chinese military officials have finally met to discuss the once-taboo topic, Tillerson said last week.
Some stark topics were broached, Tillerson said: Refugees flooding across the Chinese-North Korean border, US troops entering the hermit country-and leaving again once they had prevented nuclear weapons from falling into the wrong hands.
The little-noticed disclosure was overshadowed by Tillerson's remarks that Washington was willing to talk with Pyongyang without preconditions-a statement that he backed away from days later.