WASHINGTON (Sputnik) – The State Department determined that “mechanisms for communication and cooperation remained” despite the suspension of some bilateral counterterrorism programs due to Russian and US differences over the conflict in Ukraine. This cooperation includes Russia’s counterterrorism role in multilateral bodies.
Political relations between the United States and Russia deteriorated in 2014 over the crisis in Ukraine. A number of bilateral contacts and programs between the countries have been frozen as a result.
“Separatists and violent Islamist extremists calling for a pan-Islamic Caliphate within the North Caucasus constituted the main terrorist threats.”
The report added that Russia recognized the Islamic State as a terrorist organization.