MOSCOW, March 2. /TASS/. The Kremlin proceeds from the understanding that no US officials have made any claims to the effect the Russian ambassador in Washington, Sergey Kislyak, may have intelligence links and that all media rumors to this effect are baseless and unconfirmed, Russian Presidential Spokesman Dmitry Peskov stated.

"You and I have not heard a single statement by the US special services about our ambassador," Peskov stressed. He described media rumors buzzing about Kislyak’s involvement in intelligence activities as "bogus media speculations that keep fanning tensions."

"The only piece of advice that I can give is that in a situation like this, avoid reacting to all such anonymous, baseless fake news stories and rely only on official statements by genuine officials," the presidential spokesman emphasized.

Earlier, CNN quoted its sources as saying that US intelligence claims that Kislyak is a spy.