Moscow Slams Halting of Data Exchange Between Russian, UK Security Services

The channels for information exchange between the security services of Russia and the United Kingdom on the subject of counterterrorism have been unilaterally blocked by London, Russian Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Maria Zakharova said Thursday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — Zakharova noted that London claimed that such actions were taken due to the "potential aggression" from and "unpredictability" of Moscow.

"All [channels] have been blocked unilaterally by the United Kingdom some time ago… From our side, this [information exchange] channels do not just exist, they have worked and they are able to work," Zakharova said during a regular press briefing.

"It is impossible to understand what our unpredictability is about — to block absolutely predictable subject namely counteracting terrorism," Zakharova stressed.

She noted that if relatives of those killed or injured in the Manchester attack would have been asked by the UK authorities on the restoration of such an intel sharing channel, they would definitely supported it.

Zakharova also reminded that it was Russia that had gave intel data on Tsarnaev terrorists to the US special services long before the Boston merathon bombing.

On Tuesday, Victor Ozerov, Chairperson of the Committee on Defense and Security of the upper house of Russia's parliament, said that although the United Kingdom was the first country that had refused to cooperate with Russia through security services, Moscow was still ready to share information.

The statement came in the wake of Monday's deadly terror attack in the United Kingdom's Manchester Arena, which had left 22 people dead and 120 injured.

Cooperation between Russia and some Western countries has deteriorated in a number of spheres since 2014 amid the Ukrainian crisis.