Washington: US President Barack Obama has called up his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin second time in a fortnight to discuss on a range of issues including counter-terrorism and the Syrian situation.
This is the second interaction within a fortnight between the two leaders in the aftermath of Boston bombings, no reference to which, although, was made in the official read-out provided by the White House.
"The two leaders discussed cooperation on counter-terrorism and security issues going forward, including with respect to the 2014 Olympics in Sochi," the White House said in the read-out.
According to a presidential spokesperson, Moscow is providing considerable help in the Boston attacks probe.
"We have a cooperative relationship with our Russian counterparts when it comes to counter-terrorism. We have an ongoing conversation with Russian officials on this specific matter, the bombing in Boston," White House Press Secretary Jay Carney said.
The bombing suspect is of Chechen origin and the Russian agencies had in the past informed US of their radicalisation, besides intercepting some of their communications.
"As you know, we have been cooperating with the Russian government on travel from the Embassy by a team of Americans to investigate down in Dagestan, the trip that Tamerlan Tsarnaev took, and that cooperation continues," he said.
Carney said the US President hopes that the two countries are able to share information back and forth with governments on a variety of counter-terrorism subjects.
"It`s obviously very important that we have that kind of cooperation from other governments on. We provide it, as well, of course," he said.
"So I don`t want to characterise too much the nature of conversations or information-sharing on this case with the Russians beyond what the FBI has already discussed."
"I can tell you that obviously the President has spoken with President Putin and will continue to have conversations, of course, with his counterpart there, as our governments cooperate on this matter and other issues," Carney said.
Meanwhile in a statement, White House said Obama also spoke to Putin over phone to convey his condolences on the tragic hospital fire outside of Moscow that killed dozens last week.
He also reiterated his appreciation for the close cooperation that the US has received from Russia on the Boston marathon attack, it said.
"President Obama and President Putin reviewed situation in Syria, with President Obama underscoring concern over Syrian chemical weapons," the White House said.
The two leaders agreed to stay in close consultation and instructed the Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov to continue discussions on Syria.
"Both Presidents noted that they look forward to meeting in person in June at the time of the G-8 meeting in Northern Ireland and again in September for a bilateral Summit in Russia," the read-out said.
PTI
