US denies Russia's claim that most communication between the two superpowers is 'frozen' and accompanied by 'extreme degree of distrust'
- Russia said Wednesday there has been a break in dialogue between it and United States
- Kremlin spokesman said bilateral relations were accompanied by distrust
- The freezing in relations between the two countries comes after Russia was linked by CIA to hacking of Hillary Clinton's emails
- Both the State Department and the Pentagon said they've just had talks with Russian officials and deny that communication is 'frozen'
The US says it is baffled at the Kremlin's insistence that almost all communication channels between Russia and the United States are 'frozen.'
Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Wednesday that there had been a break in dialogue between the two countries, the RIA news agency reports.
'Almost every level of dialogue with the United States is frozen. We don't communicate with one another, or (if we do) we do so minimally,' Peskov is reported to have said in an interview to Mir TV.
Russian government spokesman Dmitry Peskov, pictured left with Vladimir Putin, said communication channels between Russia and the U.S. were 'frozen'
'We don't communicate with one another, or (if we do) we do so minimally,' Peskov (above) is reported to have said in an interview to Mir TV
'Unfortunately, our bilateral relations are now accompanied by an extreme degree of distrust and these relations are in quite deplorable state.'
The tensions are linked to the CIA and FBI linking Russia to the hacking of Hillary Clinton's emails during the US presidential election and sanctions imposed on Russia over the war in Crimea.
No one, however, seemed to have informed the US of this supposed break in communication.
'Dialogue has not been broken,' State Department spokesman John Kirby told reporters, adding that Secretary of State John Kerry spoke on the phone Tuesday with Russian foreign minister Sergei Lavrov after a meeting on Syria in Moscow, according to NBC News.
'It's difficult to know exactly what is meant by this comment, but diplomatic engagement with Russia continues across a wide range of issues,' Kirby said earlier in a statement.
President-elect Donald Trump has expressed openness to friendlier relations with Russia and Vladimir Putin has already heaped praise on him on more than one occasion
The Pentagon also said it didn't get the memo, saying that it had just had a video conference with Russian officials about de-conflicting military flights in Syria.
'The video conference was the latest in a continuing dialogue with the Russian Defense Ministry under the memorandum of understanding for the safety of flight in Syria to ensure that each side continues to adhere to agreed-upon measures to mitigate incidents in the air,' said Pentagon spokesman Peter Cook.
In the same interview, Peskov also said he did not know whether President Vladimir Putin would seek re-election in 2018.
'Everyone's heads are aching because of work and with projects and nobody is thinking or talking about elections,' Peskov said.
Spokesman Dmitry Peskov (pictured last week) told reporters on Wednesday that bilateral relations between Russian and US were now accompanied by a 'extreme degree of distrust
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The Russian government spokesman also added during his interview that the country did not expect the incoming US administration to reject NATO enlargement overnight.
Putin heaped praise on president-elect Donald Trump on more than one occasion. He called him a 'clever man' and a 'brilliant and talented person' following Trump's election.
Putin has spoken previously of his hope that Trump will help restore US-Russia relations
Putin has spoken previously of his hope that Trump will help restore US-Russia relations and analysts said he was unlikely to want to dial up anti-Western rhetoric before the president-elect's inauguration in January.
Trump's openness to friendlier relations with Russia is being linked to soaring Russian stock prices, CNN Money reports.
The Micex index is up more than 14 percent since Trump secured the presidency.
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