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ussia and Indonesia have reiterated their commitment to strengthening counterterrorism in the wake of a terrorist attack that struck St. Petersburg earlier this week.

The commitment was expressed on Thursday during a ceremony awarding National Police chief Gen. Tito Karnavian with the 100 Years of International Police Cooperation commemorative medal, as conferred by Russian Ambassador to Jakarta Mikhail Y. Galuzin on behalf of the Interior Affairs Ministry.

The medal recognized Tito’s contributions in progressing relations between police forces from both countries. Tito took the opportunity to call for stronger cooperation in fighting terrorism.

Tito has built a track record in counterterrorism and lead the National Police’s counterterrorism unit, Densus 88, in 2009.

Tito’s move reciprocated Russia’s hope to deepen bilateral relations with Indonesia in counterterrorism, conveyed by Galuzin during a press briefing on Wednesday.

In front of Russian diplomats and police top brass, Galuzin praised the accomplishments of the Indonesian police, including its active participation in bilateral consultations in the framework of a working group to counter international terrorist groups and organized crime.

Among Tito’s achievements, Galuzin cited the successful Interpol General Assembly in Bali in November 2016, which he said had contributed directly to closer global coordination in the face of a growing track of terrorism, drug trade and human trafficking.

The event gathered 167 countries from the United Nations’ 193 member states, which Tito noted was the most in its history.

Galuzin further commended police contribution within the auspices of an agreement on strategic security bilateral consultations, which for the first time agreed to strengthen cooperation in international information security (IIS) during a meeting in Jakarta in March.

“Thanks to the kind assistance and kind care we enjoyed from His Excellency [Tito Karnavian], the relations between our police services are very close,” Galuzin said before pinning the medal on Tito’s uniform.

Indonesia and Russia have had stable and friendly relations since 1945. The relationship lasted through the dynamics of the Cold War era, when the Southeast Asian country became the founding member of the Non-Aligned Movement (NAM).

Currently, bilateral police ties thrive through a Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) signed by the Office of the Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister and the Russian Security Council in Moscow on June 22, 2015.

Speaking after Galuzin, Tito expressed his “highest appreciation” on what he said was his first foreign award.

After conveying his “deepest and heartfelt” condolences to Russia on the suicide bomb attack that reportedly killed 14 people on the St. Petersburg metro, Tito called for enhanced cooperation, particularly on intelligence sharing, capacity building and experience sharing.

“Intelligence sharing is number one. We expect to create closer contact, beyond just institution-to-institution. More effectively, we could create personal contact directly from our operational officer to your [Russia’s] operational officer, which would allow them to get and share timely information,” Tito said in his speech.

Tito said he would propose increasing cooperation in an upcoming consultation meeting scheduled in Moscow. The meeting will be attended by Coordinating Political, Legal and Security Affairs Minister Wiranto.