MOSCOW (AP) - U.S. Attorney General John Ashcroft and Russia's Prosecutor General Vladimir Ustinov thanked one another Monday for their agencies' cooperation in the war against terrorism and expressed hope that joint anti-terror efforts between the United States and Russia would increase.
"The most important objective of my trip is to thank the Russian government and the Russian people for their cooperation and help," Ashcroft said at the start of the meeting.
"We share your concerns about the threat of terrorism, which is connected with an increasing number of victims. It poses a threat to the whole world," Ustinov said, adding that he hoped "our intensive cooperation" would develop in the future.
Russian President Vladimir Putin was the first world leader to call U.S. President George W. Bush in the wake of the September 11th terrorist attacks in the United States and has emerged as a key U.S. ally in the war against terrorism.
Putin strongly supported the U.S. military campaign in Afghanistan and reacted calmly to the stationing of U.S troops in the former Soviet republics of Central Asia and Georgia.
Ashcroft alluded to Russia's own struggle with terrorism, and said the two countries could learn from each other.
"I respect the experience you have personally had in dealing with terrorists and I am grateful for the work you all have done, together with other agencies and the people of Russia, to help the United States," he said.
Russia has consistently described its military campaign in breakaway Chechnya as an "anti-terrorist operation." Russian officials have blamed Islamic rebels for a series of bombings - including a 1999 string of apartment house explosions that killed some 300 people and a bomb blast last month in the Caspian Sea port of Kaspiisk that killed more than 40.
Ashcroft arrived in the Russian capital Sunday. In addition to Ustinov, he is expected to meet Monday with Russia's Interior Minister Boris Gryzlov, who heads all of Russia's police forces.