“The U.S. government has offered our full support to the Russian government in security preparations for the Sochi Olympic Games, and we would welcome the opportunity for closer cooperation for the safety of the athletes, spectators and other participants,” National Security Council spokesperson Caitlin Hayden said on Monday. The U.S. government quickly condemned the pair of bombings, which killed at least 31 people, in Volgograd, a little more than 400 miles from Sochi, where the Winter Olympics will be held in February. President Barack Obama was briefed on the attacks during his vacation in Hawaii…

Security issues are one of the bright notes in the complex U.S.-Russia relationship. While the two countries don’t often see eye to eye on trade or regional issues, they have maintained close counterterrorism ties. Obama and Russian President Vladimir Putin have a strained personal relationship that has been on display at several recent international summits, with Obama saying in September that efforts to expand the relationship between the two countries had “hit a wall.” U.S. and Russian officials have tangled over issues as varied as the Syrian civil war and gay rights, with Obama appointing a low-level delegation to the Olympics, as well as several gay athletes, in protest of Russia’s anti-gay laws. “We always cooperate with the Russians on counterterrorism,” Harf said on Monday.