The Trump administration let a top Russian spy official visit the US last week for meetings with the Director of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) even though there are sanctions against the Russian that prohibit such visits.

The meeting between CIA’s Mike Pompeo and his Russian counterpart Sergey Naryshkin did take place, CBS News reported on Tuesday.

Talks between top US and Russian intelligence officials occurred just days before Pompeo again warned that Russia will attempt to meddle in the 2018 US mid-term elections, a CNN report said.

Naryshkin was sanctioned in 2014 by the Obama administration in response to Russia’s actions in Ukraine. His meeting with Pompeo came just days before he was named in a report released by the US Treasury Department dubbed the “Putin list”.

The meeting took place in part to discuss the “joint struggle against terrorism”, Russian Ambassador to the US Anatoly Antonov told Russian state television.

“Politics is politics, work is work. There are political proclamations, there is real work,” Antonov said.

“You probably remember that Vladimir Vladimirovich (Putin) called Donald Trump and thanked him for help, for the information that was received through the line with the CIA, and thanks to that (we) were able to prevent a horrible act of terrorism in St. Petersburg.

“I think this conversation was necessary and very useful. I am sure of it. Sergey Evgenyevich (Naryshkin) was here. He came. He held consultations with his colleagues,” Antonov said.

Both US and Russian officials indicated that the discussions centred on cooperative efforts to combat terrorism but Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer demanded to know the details.

“The Trump administration must immediately come clean and answer questions,” the New York Democrat said about Naryshkin’s visit.

“Which US officials did he meet with? Did any White House or National Security Council official meet with Naryshkin? What did they discuss?”

Senator Ben Cardin of Maryland, the senior Democrat on the Foreign Relations Committee, released a new report this month concluding that the US will not be prepared to defend against possible Russian meddling unless it takes immediate action.