WASHINGTON, October 7. /TASS/. Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov has flatly denied assertions that there’s a rift in President Vladimir Putin’s inner circle.

"There are working arguments: about the economy, about the conduct of the [special] military operation [in Ukraine]. There are arguments about the education system," he said in comments to the Washington Post newspaper. "This is part of the normal working process, and it is not a sign of any split."

Peskov’s statement appeared in an article that said a member of Putin’s "inner circle" allegedly voiced disagreements directly to the Russian president over his handling of the military operation.

Peskov described the information as "absolutely not true."

The spokesman stated that the Russian leadership does have disagreements and debates over some key issues.

"There is disagreement over such moments. Some think we should act differently," Peskov said. He added it’s "part of the usual working process."

The newspaper also cited unidentified high ranking European officials in charge of security that essentially also said they were unaware of any splits in Putin’s inner circle that would concern any decisions about the special military operation. A high ranking official of a Baltic country, in effect, spoke along the same lines, the report said.

"Everybody is keen on searching for signs of Russia folding, and you do see internal tensions," the Baltic official told the Washington Post. "But Russia is now on a war footing, and they are still going. We haven’t seen anything to suggest otherwise."

The report said that the information purporting to suggest that a member of Putin’s inner circle criticized the situation around the military operation was included in US President Joe Biden’s daily intelligence briefing.