LOUGH ERNE (Northern Ireland), June 18 (RIA Novosti) - Russia and the United States will intensify their cooperation in countering terrorism, including information exchange and joint counter-terrorism operations, the leaders of the two countries said in a joint statement on Monday.
The document, adopted during a meeting between Russian President Vladimir Putin and US President Barack Obama, says that the terrorist threat “calls for a concerted, comprehensive response,” including measures to protect civilians and to prevent terrorist ideologies from spreading in the society. The two leaders also agreed that a long-term strategy aimed at eliminating social and material support to terrorists was needed.
“To that end, the United States and Russia intend to strengthen our counterterrorism cooperation on the basis of mutual trust, including the exchange of pertinent operational information between intelligence services and the conduct of coordinated operations,” Putin and Obama said in the statement.
The two leaders also agreed to maintain a regular dialog between the Russian and US foreign and defense ministers in the “two plus two” format to address “issues of strategic stability, international security, and shared threats to our countries.”
The security councils in Russia and US were instructed “to maintain a regular dialogue to discuss issues of mutual interest.”
Obama and Putin also agreed to hold a US-Russia summit in Moscow on September 3-4, 2013.
