"The Russian president thanked his US counterpart for the information shared by the US Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) that helped track down, expose and detain a group of terrorists who had plotted explosions in St. Petersburg’s Kazan Cathedral and in other crowded places in that city," the press service said, adding that the conversation was initiated by the Russian side.

MOSCOW, December 17. /TASS/.Russian President Vladimir Putin has thanked his US counterpart, Donald Trump, for the CIA tipoff that led to the capture of terrorists who had plotted bomb attacks in St. Petersburg’s Kazan Cathedral and in other crowded places in Russia’s second largest city, the Kremlin press service said on Sunday following a telephone conversation between the two leaders.

According to the Russian president, the CIA alert was enough to expose and arrest the criminals. Putin asked Trump to convey his thanks to the CIA director and the intelligence officers who had obtained this information.

The Russian leader reassured the US president that "Russia’s security services, should they have information about possible terrorist threats to the United States and its citizens, will swiftly and unconditionally share it with their US colleagues via partner channels," the press service stressed.

The press office of Russia’s Federal Security Service (FSB) reported earlier that seven members of a terrorist cell had been taken into custody for plotting terror attacks. They planned to commit a string of murders and IED blasts in crowded areas in St. Petersburg on December 16. One of those detained confessed in court that he had planned a terror explosion in the city’s landmark Kazan Cathedral.