The Kremlin has dismissed as “fiction” a Financial Times report that Chinese President Xi Jinping personally warned Russian President Vladimir Putin against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

The FT, citing unidentified Western and Chinese officials, reported that Mr Xi warned Mr Putin at a face-to-face meeting in March against using nuclear weapons in Ukraine.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov, when asked if he could confirm the FT report, said: “No, I can’t confirm it.”

Mr Peskov said the two countries had issued considerable detail in statements at the time on the content of their talks.

“The essence of the negotiations was clearly stated in the documents adopted following the statement, so there is a lot of information. Everything else is fiction.”

The FT cited people close to the Kremlin as saying that Putin had independently decided using tactical nuclear weapons would not give Russia an advantage in Ukraine.

The FT cited the people close to the Kremlin as saying that a nuclear strike was likely to turn areas that Putin has claimed for Russia into an irradiated wasteland while doing little to help his forces advance.

-Reuters