MOSCOW, January 31. /TASS/. Moscow is calling on Washington and its European allies to give up their policy of whipping up tension around Ukraine and assume a constructive stance, Kremlin Spokesman Dmitry Peskov said on Monday.

"The hysteria that the United States is instigating is, indeed, leading to hysteria in Ukraine where people are almost packing frontline bags. This is obvious and this is a fact. This is the downside of this very malicious and damaging campaign being run by Washington. We consistently criticize this stance and call on Washington and its allies on the European continent to give up this policy and assume a constructive, calm and balanced approach," the Russian presidential spokesman said, responding to a request to comment on Western media reports that the White House was dissatisfied with Ukrainian President Vladimir Zelensky’s position on the threat of Russia’s alleged invasion of Ukraine.

"Regrettably, American media outlets have been publishing a large amount of unverified, distorted and deliberately false and inflammatory information in recent months about what is happening in and around Ukraine. This is becoming obvious actually for all," Peskov said, adding that these publications should be treated "correspondingly."

Replying to a question about whether Russian politicians and journalists should cover this issue so actively, the Kremlin spokesman said the following: "We are not empowered to tell the media how much and what they must cover, but we are empowered to recommend that people read this information as little as possible and maintain a sober view."

CNN earlier reported, citing sources in the US administration that tension had been building between Washington and Kiev. According to the American TV channel, US President Joe Biden and his advisers were annoyed by "Zelensky's public downplaying of the threat" of an alleged imminent invasion and that US backing "is being met without much thanks" from the Ukrainian leadership.

For its part, Kiev has branded the US assessment of the situation as an "overreaction that "is inciting panic and economic turmoil" inside Ukraine while "at the same time the US refuses to take preemptive deterrence measures such as imposing new sanctions on Russia," CNN informed.

Prior to that, CNN reported citing a source in the Ukrainian government that a call between US President Biden and Ukraine’s leader Zelensky "did not go well." This information was dismissed by Ukrainian presidential spokesman Sergey Nikiforov and Foreign Minister Dmitry Kuleba. Zelensky stated himself that he did not have any misunderstanding with the US president.