The Kremlin has denied reports that US president-elect Donald Trump had spoken to Russian President Vladimir Putin in recent days, and said Mr Putin had no concrete plans yet to speak to Mr Trump.
The Washington Post first reported that the call had taken place, citing unidentified sources, and said that Mr Trump had told Mr Putin that he should not escalate the Ukraine war.
Reuters also reported on the call, citing an unidentified source.
"This is completely untrue. This is pure fiction, it's just false information," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.
"There was no conversation."
"This is the most obvious example of the quality of the information that is being published now, sometimes even in fairly reputable publications," Mr Peskov said.
Asked if Mr Putin had plans for any contacts with Mr Trump, Mr Peskov said: "There are no concrete plans yet."
Mr Trump had said on the presidential election campaign trail that he could end the war in Ukraine within hours and has indicated he would talk directly with Mr Putin.
The Republican has not said how he intends to strike a peace deal or what terms he is proposing.
Mr Putin has demanded Ukraine withdraw from swathes of its eastern and southern territory as a precondition to peace talks.
The Washington Post reported that people familiar with Thursday's call said Mr Trump had briefly raised the question of land with Putin.
Following Mr Trump's election, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky warned there should be "no concessions" to Mr Putin.
Ceding land or giving in to any of Moscow's other hardline demands would only embolden the Kremlin and lead to more aggression, he said.
Trump names immigration official Tom Homan as 'border czar'
Separately, Mr Trump has said he was bringing back hardline immigration official Tom Homan to oversee the country's borders in the incoming administration.
Mr Trump has pledged to launch - on day one of his presidency - the largest deportation operation of undocumented immigrants in US history.
"I am pleased to announce that the Former ICE Director, and stalwart on Border Control, Tom Homan, will be joining the Trump Administration, in charge of our Nation's Borders ('The Border Czar')," Mr Trump posted on his social network Truth Social.
"I've known Tom for a long time, and there is nobody better at policing and controlling our borders."
Mr Homan will be in charge of "all Deportation of Illegal Aliens back to their Country of Origin", Mr Trump added.
Mr Trump - who never conceded his 2020 loss - sealed a remarkable comeback to the presidency in the 5 November vote, cementing what is set to be more than a decade of US politics dominated by his hardline right-wing stance.
During his campaign, he repeatedly railed against undocumented immigrants, employing violent rhetoric about those who "poison the blood" of the United States.
While the US government has struggled for years to manage its southern border with Mexico, Mr Trump has super-charged concerns by claiming an "invasion" is under way by migrants he says will rape and murder Americans.
In rally speeches, he wildly exaggerated local tensions and misled his audiences about immigration statistics and policy.
Violent crime, which spiked under Mr Trump, has fallen in every year of President Joe Biden's administration.
Migrants commit fewer crimes proportionately than the native population, though foreign suspects have been named in a few high-profile cases of violent attacks on women and children, infuriating Republicans.
Read more: Key takeaways from the US presidential election
The number of US border patrol encounters with migrants crossing over from Mexico illegally is now about the same as in 2020, the last year of Mr Trump's presidency, after peaking at a record 250,000 for the month of December 2023.
Mr Trump vowed to tackle migrant gangs using the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 - which allows the federal government to round up and deport foreigners belonging to enemy countries - as part of a mass deportation drive he named "Operation Aurora".
Aurora was the scene of a viral video purporting to show armed Latinos rampaging through an apartment block that spurred sweeping, false narratives about the town being terrorised by Latin American migrants.
Mr Trump has similarly promoted the fictitious story that Haitian migrants in Springfield, Ohio, are eating residents' pets.
