CIA intel helped stop Russia terror attack

The Kremlin yesterday 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 yesterday praised 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.

The White House said the foiled attack could have killed "large numbers of people."

It stressed that the cooperation "serves as an example of the positive things that can occur when our countries work together."

The FSB announced on Friday it had arrested seven members of an Islamic State group cell that had been planning a suicide bombing and "the killing of citizens" in crowded areas of Saint Petersburg on December 16.