Putin Praises Ongoing U.S.-Russian Cooperation on Fighting Terrorism

Oct. 25, 2020 (EIRNS)—In an interview with Rossiya-1 TV, Russian President Vladimir Putin stated: “We are cooperating with the U.S. despite numerous contradictions on a lot of areas, still cooperation at the level of special services is underway,” he said, speaking to its “Moscow. Kremlin. Putin” broadcast. In particular, this is cooperation on de-conflicting in Syria and a very good working contact was established at the operational level and at the level of military units’ chiefs, TASS reported him saying. “They hand over and repeatedly handed over [data] to us. I thanked incumbent President [Donald Trump] because information that we received from America helped us prevent several terrorist acts in Russia,” Putin declared. “In our turn, we are trying to do the same and we have such an agreement with the incumbent U.S. president that if this information emerges, we will share it and help each other.”

Putin also came out in favor of continued U.S. presence in Afghanistan, which Russia considers largely a fight against terrorism.

“Initially, we backed U.S. forces’ presence in Afghanistan and earlier voted in favor of a respective UN Security Council resolution. I still believe that U.S. presence in Afghanistan does not run counter to our external interests.... First, we will have to spend more to maintain stability and second, no matter what, still U.S. presence in Afghanistan contributes to stability in the country and their exit creates risks. We don’t have to fight against the Americans’ presence there.”