MOSCOW, March 5. /TASS/. Moscow and Washington are maintaining certain channels of a dialogue against the background of the current geopolitical situation, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Saturday.

"We are maintaining certain channels of a dialogue with the United States," Peskov said at a news briefing in response to a question about the current state of relations between Russia and the United States in view of the recent developments in Ukraine and the pressure of sanctions in regard to Moscow.

Russian President Vladimir Putin said in a televised address on February 24 that in response to a request by the heads of the Donbass republics he had made a decision to carry out a special military operation in order to protect people "who have been suffering from abuse and genocide by the Kiev regime for eight years." The Russian leader stressed that Moscow had no plans of occupying Ukrainian territories.

When clarifying the unfolding developments, the Russian Defense Ministry reassured that Russian troops are not targeting Ukrainian cities, but are limited to surgically striking and incapacitating Ukrainian military infrastructure. There are no threats whatsoever to the civilian population.