MOSCOW

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Friday that representatives of the Russian and US presidential administrations had contacts on the Ukrainian settlement following recent consultations in Miami.

Speaking at a press briefing in Moscow, Peskov said Russian presidential aide Yury Ushakov and several White House officials discussed the draft of the peace plane in a phone talk.

"After Dmitriev briefed the president on the results of his trip to America and his contacts with the Americans, this information was analyzed, at the instruction of President Putin, there was a contact between representatives of the administrations of Russia and the United States," the Kremlin spokesman shared.

The spokesman added that the Kremlin analyzed the information received from the special envoy Kirill Dmitriev following his trip to the US.

Speaking about the results, Peskov said Moscow and Washington "agreed to continue the dialogue."

Negotiations on the Ukrainian settlement were held in Miami over the weekend, with the US side represented by envoy Steven Witkoff and Jared Kushner, son-in-law of President Donald Trump.

Peskov declined to answer a question on how Moscow evaluates the document that the special representative of the Russian president, Kirill Dmitriev, brought from the US after negotiations in Miami.

"We still believe that disseminating this information at this time could negatively affect the negotiation process," Peskov said.

Commenting on the statement by Ukrainian president's advisor Mykhailo Podolyak, who claimed that Ukraine allegedly lacks funds to hold elections, Peskov said Moscow does not know to what extent these statements reflect the official position of Kyiv.

"We have heard no official statements from Kyiv. But it is an undeniable fact that Kyiv resorts to various tricks to obtain money from the West," Peskov added.

Asked about the increase in Japan's military budget, Peskov said any increase in military spending by countries in the Asia-Pacific region should be cautious to avoid further escalation of tensions.

"I cannot give you an exact figure; I simply do not know how much they had last year or how significant this increase is. But undoubtedly, any increase in military expenditure in the region should be carried out with extreme caution to prevent further escalation of tensions," Peskov stressed.