MOSCOW: Russian President Vladimir Putin called US
President Donald Trump on Sunday to thank him for a CIA tip that helped
thwart a series of bombings in St. Petersburg, the Kremlin said.
Putin
expressed gratitude during the call for information provided by the CIA
that allowed Russia’s top domestic security agency to track down and
arrest a group of suspects that was planning to bomb Kazan Cathedral and
other crowded sites, the Kremlin said.
The Kremlin added
that Putin asked Trump to convey gratitude to the CIA and assured him
that Russian law enforcement agencies would hand over any information
they get about potential terror threats against the United States, as
they have done in the past.
The conversation was the
second phone call between the two leaders since Thursday, when Trump
thanked Putin for his remarks “acknowledging America’s strong economic
performance,” according to the White House.
During the
first call, they also discussed during ways to work together to address
North Korea’s nuclear and ballistic weapons program, the White House
said.
The Federal Security Service, or FSB, announced
that seven suspected followers of the militant Islamic State group had
been arrested for allegedly planning to carry out terror attacks in St.
Petersburg this weekend.
The agency said the suspects
were plotting a suicide bombing in a church and a series of other
explosions in the city’s busiest areas this coming weekend on IS orders.
It said a search of a St. Petersburg apartment found explosives,
automatic weapons and extremist literature.
Russian news reports said that the Kazan Cathedral was the prime target.
Russian TV stations ran footage of FSB operatives outside an apartment
building detaining a suspect, who was later shown confessing that he was
told to prepare homemade bombs rigged with shrapnel.
The reports included footage of a metal container, which the suspects
used as a laboratory for making explosives, according to the FSB.
Another video showed operatives breaking the doors and raiding an
apartment used by other suspects.
Last week, the FSB
said it also arrested several IS-linked suspects in Moscow, where they
allegedly were plotting a series of suicide bombings over New Year’s.
In April, a suicide bombing in the St. Petersburg’s subway left 16 dead and wounded more than 50.
