"This is his job," said Mr Peskov, speaking on CNN's Sunday morning politics show. "He was talking about bilateral relations, about what is going on in the United States, so we have a better understanding in Moscow.

"This is what happens all around the world."

H e said that members of Mrs Clinton's team had also met with Mr Kislyak, although he did not give specifics.

"Well, if you look at some people connected with Hillary Clinton during her campaign, you would probably see that he had lots of meetings of that kind," he said. "There are lots of specialists in politology, people working in think tanks advising Hillary or advising people working for Hillary."