MOSCOW, December 9. /TASS/. Russia’s Foreign Intelligence Service and the United States’ Central Intelligence Agency maintain a partner channel focused on combating terrorism, Foreign Intelligence Service chief, Sergei Naryshkin, said on Sunday.

"Naturally, it is focused on fighting against international terrorist, as is our entire cooperation with the colleagues from the Central Intelligence Agency," he said in an interview with the Deistvuyushchiye Litsa (Political Actors) with Nailya Asker-zade on the Rossiya-1 television channel.

"We exchange operational, intelligence information about individuals, plans of terrorist organizations," he said, adding he is convinced that such partnership in the interests of both countries.

He recalled his visit to the United States in the autumn of 2017, which triggered a negative reaction of US Congressmen. He said it was an official visit, his first one to the US, and the issue of sanctions was not addressed during it.

He said that several months after Donald Trump had taken office of the US president he had his first telephone talks with the then CIA chief, Michael Pompeo who visited Russian in the summer of 2017. "Naturally, I received an invitation from him and used it already in the autumn of 2017. In Washington, like in Moscow, we have purely professional talks," he said.

According to Natyshkin, he has had no contacts with the CIS current director, Gina Haspel, who took the office in mid-May. "After the change of the CIA director, there have been no additional contacts at the level of directors but our partner channel is maintained," he said, adding that official representatives from the CIA are working in Moscow and official representatives of the Russian Foreign Intelligence Service are working in Washington. "Exchange continues," he noted.