FBI 'Playing Key Role' in Ensuring Security at Rio Olympics

The Brazilian government is closely cooperating with the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and other law enforcement agencies in a bid to ensure security at the 2016 Olympic Games, US media reported on Monday.

MOSCOW (Sputnik) — According to The New York Times newspaper, US officials are training Brazilian police and security services to identify threats and foil potential disasters at the Games, including attacks on "soft targets" like shopping malls, restaurants and night clubs.

"The Americans are playing a key role in homing in on areas that we need to examine. I don’t know how the FBI got their intelligence, but it turned out to be a very valuable lead," Rafael Brum Miron, a prosecutor in the southern city of Curitiba was quoted by the newspaper as saying.

The training reflects progress in cooperation between Brasilia and Washington, which cooled down after revelations about US surveillance over the Brazilian authorities in 2013, the media outlet added.

Brazilian city of Rio de Janeiro is set to host 2016 Summer Olympic Games on August 5-21. On July 26, Brazilian Defense Minister Raul Jungmann said that the country was "not invulnerable" to terrorists, but prepared to minimize the risk for the upcoming Rio Olympics.