The Kremlin said today it did not expect the incoming US administration to reject NATO enlargement overnight and that almost all communications channels between Russia and the United States were frozen.

"Almost every level of dialogue with the United States is frozen. We don't communicate with one another, or (if we do) we do so minimally," Peskov said

RIA news agency, citing an interview it said Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov gave to the Mir TV station, quoted Peskov as saying he did not know whether President Vladimir Putin would seek re-election in 2018.

"Everyone's heads are aching because of work and with projects and nobody is thinking or talking about elections," Peskov said.

Most Kremlin-watchers expect Putin to run for the presidency again.

US says diplomatic engagement with Russia continues

The United States disputed the comments that almost all communications channels between Russia and the United States were frozen, saying that there had been no break in dialogue. 

"It's difficult to know exactly what is meant by this comment, but diplomatic engagement with Russia continues across a wide range of issues," US State Department spokesman John Kirby said in a statement.

"That we have significant differences with Moscow on some of these issues is well known, but there hasn't been a break in dialogue."

US Secretary of State John Kerry and Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov spoke by phone yesterday regarding the situation in Syria, Kirby said.

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