The White House confirmed Monday that President Trump spoke a day earlier with Russian President Vladimir Putin, saying the two leaders discussed counterterrorism and arms control.
White House deputy press secretary Hogan Gidley said Mr. Putin called Mr. Trump to thank him for information the United States provided “that helped foil a potential holiday terrorist attack in Russia.”
The Kremlin said earlier that the information transmitted by “U.S. special services” helped to thwart the planned terrorist attack. Russian news agencies said two Russian nationals were plotting attacks in St. Petersburg over the New Year’s holiday but were detained, thanks to the information shared by the U.S.
Mr. Gidley said both presidents “committed to continuing counterterrorism cooperation between the two countries.”
They also discussed “the state of relations between the United States and Russia and future efforts to support effective arms control,” he said.
Russia said it has deployed a new hypersonic nuclear missile, fueling concerns of a new arms race with the U.S. as the expiration approaches of the last treaty limiting the strategic arsenals of the two countries.
• Dave Boyer can be reached at dboyer@washingtontimes.com.
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