MOSCOW, December 21. /TASS/. The US administration has invested too much money into the coup in Ukraine and now has to "babysit" Ukrainian leader Pyotr Poroshenko despite his weak electoral positions, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Thursday night.

"Regretfully, Washington is forced to babysit Poroshenko, even despite his relatively weak electoral positions," the Kremlin official said. "Too much money was invested into Ukraine, too much money was poured into the coup in Ukraine, and justifying this coup also requires too much money."

Peskov suggested that the United States expect its investment to "somehow pay for itself, to yield some dividends."

"Apparently, they [the United States] did not quite succeed and now need to do their best to save the situation," he said.

According to Peskov, the Russian-Ukrainian relations were further strained by the upcoming presidential elections in Ukraine.

"At the moment, President Poroshenko has to win electoral support by all means, because the approval of him is low compared to the rivals who have overtaken him in the electoral rating. And this is exactly what he is doing, and this is clearly visible to us all," the Kremlin spokesman said.

"The most dangerous thing in this situation is that President Poroshenko himself would seek to further escalate the situation and use it for electoral gain," he said, adding that Washington will have no other choice, but to support Poroshenko.

"Washington has to support Poroshenko and turn a blind eye to the real situation, which is exactly what it is doing now," he said. "We have no doubt that this approach would continue."

Speaking about the development of Russian-US relations, the Kremlin spokesman described them as "a victim of the provocation made by the Ukrainian side near Kerch."

However, when asked whether the Ukrainian leader’s actions may trigger international pressure on Russia that would force Moscow to act to the detriment of its own national interests, Peskov replied: "The answer is categorical: no. And President Putin has said that many times.".