There are some common elements and interest between the United States and Russia and no doubt China as well and the following article highlights one of those. There was a time, no doubt, that the CIA or Russian intelligence would have just remained quite and watched things play out even though countless lives would have been lost.
Second Linked Story about the same topic, CIA Helps Russians
Too many times I think that people, politicians, etc, forget that while politics often separates our nations that when it all comes down to it people are people worldwide and most people are concerned with their own families and just want to insure that their families make if from week to week safely and live happily. Sadly though, so often, we allow politics and various suspicions about each other rob us of our ability to mutually get along. The international Space Station is one area where joint nations do cooperate for a common shared goal and I wish there was more that was available such as working on various diseases and illnesses.