the Kremlin tried to play down the tensions between the two leaders.

"We continue working with the US side, first of all, on building our relations," spokesman, Dmitry Peskov, said. He said there were no plans for a call between Putin and Trump this week, but that Putin is open to one "if necessary".

The attempt to smooth things over came after Trump told NBC News on Sunday that he was angry with Putin for attacking Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky's credibility, and threatened to impose a 50% tariff on countries buying Russian oil if Putin did not agree to a ceasefire. It was a marked change of tone towards the Russian president.

US and Russian officials have been in talks for several weeks to try to reach a deal to end the war in Ukraine - during which Trump has often criticised Zelensky but not Putin.

But Trump's anger with Putin was sparked when the Russian president on Friday mooted the idea of an interim government in Ukraine under the support of the UN which could replace President Zelensky. "You could say that I was very angry, pissed off, when... Putin started getting into Zelensky's credibility, because that's not going in the right location," Trump told NBC News.

"New leadership means you're not gonna have a deal for a long time," he added. In his daily conference call on Monday with journalists, Peskov claimed some of what was said in the NBC interview was "paraphrased." The comments from Trump were reflected in parts of the Russian media.

The pro-Kremlin Russian newspaper, Moskovsky Komsomolets, published some rare criticism of the US president, saying Trump was not fulfilling his "obligations" to stop Ukraine striking Russian energy infrastructure.

"All agreements on the level of President Trump are only worth a few pennies on market day" the newspaper concluded, while "Moscow is prepared to make a deal with the US president." (BBC)