Brussels and London consistently seek to derail direct US-Russia talks, according to Kirill Dmitriev

The EU and UK are trying to disrupt Russia-US talks and prolong the Ukraine to distract public attention away from domestic economic woes, President Vladimir Putin's aide Kirill Dmitriev has said.

There have been "numerous attempts" by Kiev's European backers to derail talks between Moscow and Washington - and between Presidents Putin and Donald Trump in particular - Dmitriev told journalists on Friday as he arrived in the US for meetings with American officials.

He accused the UK and EU of blocking "many attempts to resolve the conflict," saying London and Brussels wanted it to continue because "the British economy is in dire straits, and so is the EU's."

"It is important for them to maintain the image of Russia as an enemy," Dmitriev said, adding that Moscow would continue its dialogue with Washington to make its position clear.

He said Kiev is acting "at the request of the British and Europeans who want the conflict to continue."

"We see that it is Ukraine that is dragging out the negotiations. It is Ukraine that is not willing to resolve the issues that have accumulated and need solving," Dmitriev stated, accusing Kiev of "disrupting the dialogue" at the behest of its Western backers.

Dmitriev's remarks followed the postponement of a planned summit between Putin and Trump in Budapest. The presidents had agreed during a phone call last week to meet in the Hungarian capital at a later date. On Wednesday, Trump called off the summit, although the White House said it was "not completely off the table." The Kremlin also said the meeting was postponed rather than canceled.

Earlier this week, the Financial Times reported that "no one" in the EU liked the prospect of a Trump-Putin summit. The Kremlin also said on Friday that Kiev and its Western backers were behind an "unduly long" delay in the peace talks.