Foreign Minister Bob Carr holds talks with Russia on sharing greater terrorism intelligence The Australian Defence Force conducting an Anti Terrorism Exercise at Martin Place, Sydney. Picture: Bill Hearne Source: News Limited AUSTRALIA and Russia have held unprecedented talks on counter terrorism intelligence sharing and also possibly working together on joint operations, during a high level meeting in Moscow today. Foreign Minister Bob Carr has flown to the Russian capital ahead of tomorrow's G20 world leaders summit in St Petersburg in the country's north where talks on Syria are expected to dominate. But News Corporation has learnt in a private meeting with his counterpart Sergey Lavrov today, Senator Carr has formally raised the possibility of closer intelligence ties between the two countries, marking a potentially new alliance in the transnational fight on terrorism. Russia has given in-principle support for the new level of cooperation believed to be the first of its kind between the two countries. Picture: Bill Hearne Australia has traditionally relied on intelligence sharing and active operations with the UK and the US under the ANZUS alliance but the move toward a Russian union comes with identified gaps in Australia's intelligence in the Central Asia region. It is understood Senator Carr told Mr Lavrov that Australia's spy agencies had detailed knowledge of South East Asian terrorism networks and movements, in close cooperation with countries like Indonesia. But he said Russia's unparalleled knowledge of Central Asia was required to close the counterterrorism gap since Australia had identified an overlap and movement between the regions. This is believed to include the movement of monies to fund terrorism and terror suspects. Heavily armed soldiers conducted an exercise at the Martin Place Station area in Sydney wearing camouflage, body armour, night vision goggles and gas masks. Specifically raised was intelligence sharing but also actively working together on counter terrorism operations. This would be a first since the days Australia's spooks did battle with Russian spooks during most of the Cold War. A spokesman for Senator Carr confirmed the meeting and said it was clear "there should be grounds for information sharing and for cooperation between intelligence services or security services in that region on a counter terrorism basis." "It was an interesting private conversation," the spokesman said, declining to go into further detail on the grounds of national security. But he confirmed the conversation had "opened the door" on new possibilities and officials from both countries would be following up on the conversation.