Russian President, Vladimir Putin has thanked his United States counterpart, Donald Trump for providing the intelligence which helped foil what he described as planned acts of terrorism on Russian soil. According to a Kremlin statement, Putin and Trump spoke on the phone on Sunday and that the information which helped in thwarting the attacks planned for New Year day came via US  intelligence services.

Russian media has also reported the discovery of a plot to attack St Petersburg over the new year period.

Tass news agency, citing a spokesperson from the FSB, the Russian intelligence agency reports that two Russian nationals have been arrested and plans to attack a mass gathering were foiled.

Records from the phone conversations between both presidents indicated that they also talked about Syria, nuclear agreements, North Korea as well as trade.

In December 2017, Putin thanked Trump for another warning from US intelligence agencies which again apparently prevented a terrorist plot in St Petersburg.

During that call, the Kremlin said, President Putin had promised to reciprocate with information about terrorist threats to the United States.

Despite the relations between both nations plummeting after Russia annexed the Crimean peninsula from neighbouring Ukraine in 2014, Trump and Putin have appeared to be on good terms personally and have vowed to co-operate on terrorism.