Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov has insisted that Russia and the US ‘have not yet started discussing a possible meeting between Russian and US leaders Vladimir Putin and Donald Trump’.

Speaking to CNN, Peskov said: ‘There have been no preliminary contacts between them to discuss whether or not they should meet, and if so, when and how.

Asked about the format in which Trump would like to hold his talks with the Russian and Chinese presidents, Peskov replied: ‘We still have to work to determine that.

On Tuesday, the US president announced that Washington was conducting very constructive negotiations with Moscow and Kiev on resolving the conflict in Ukraine, describing the progress of the talks as positive and expressing hope that ‘potential agreements will exceed all expectations’.

In December, Russian presidential aide Yuri Ushakov announced that several countries had already offered to host talks between President Putin and the US president, but he did not reveal which ones.