Trump-Putin ‘bromance’ is back on

The relationship between U.S. President Donald Trump and his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin that appeared to have soured after the U.S. election last year seems to be improving.

Russia's news agency TASS said that Putin called Trump on Sunday to thank him for a tip from the CIA that helped Russia stop a terrorist plot to attack St. Petersburg, the country’s second largest city.

The Kremlin said in a statement that the Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia was able to thwart a terrorist plot and detain suspects thanks to intelligence provided by the CIA. Putin also promised to pass on information acquired by the Russian intelligence services “that concerns terrorist threats to the U.S. and its citizens.”

The FSB said on Saturday that it detained seven members of Islamic State who planned to conduct a suicide attack at St. Petersburg's Kazan Cathedral. The FSB reportedly arrested another suspects on Sunday.

It was revealed that the suspects were planning to carry out suicide bombings on the Kazan Cathedral in St. Petersburg and other tourist destinations. The FSB seized a large amount of explosives, explosives ingredients, automatic rifles and extremist literature in the suspects’ hideout.

Yevgeny Efimov, One of the suspects, admitted during the interrogation that they plotted terrorist attacks, according to the TASS news agency. The White House confirmed that the two leaders talked on the phone and the CIA refused to comment on the matter.

Jung-Min Dong ditto@donga.com