Who is cheating whom?

US Department of State says that Russia did not inform the USA on Saddam’s preparations for terrorist acts in the country.
In this way, the Department of State denied the statement of Russian President Vladimir Putin on the assistance provided by Russian special services to the USA.

On June 18 news agencies quoted the statement by Russian President, “After the events of September 11th and prior to the military operations in Iraq Russian special services were informed several times about the fact that official body of Saddam regime was planning terrorist acts in the United States and beyond the country's borders”. According to Vladimir Putin, American colleagues have been supplied with this information. "American president George Bush had an opportunity to personally thank head of one of the Russian special services for this information, which he regarded as very important," stated Russian President.

However, if we believe the version of the US authorities, there was no reason for giving thanks. Americans are saying in surprise that no information on possible threat was given by Russia. State Department’s spokesman Adam Ereli said that they had received no information of this kind and recommended the reporters to inquire US special services. Mr. Ereli said he did not know if former Russian Foreign Minister Igor Ivanov provided this information to US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

Source: Russian and foreign media