The Kremlin on Friday rejected as a "hoax" media reports that US CIA director William Burns had travelled to Moscow with a secret peace proposal that involved Ukraine ceding a fifth of its territory to Russia.
The Swiss newspaper Neue Zürcher Zeitung's report, which said Mr Burns had made a secret trip to Moscow last month to put forward the plan on behalf of the White House, has also been dismissed by Washington.
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Asked whether Mr Burns had travelled to Moscow or put forward a plan that involved Ukraine ceding 20 per cent of its territory, Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters: "That whole report is a hoax."