The Kremlin said Tuesday that a Russian banker who met last year with senior White House adviser Jared Kushner was not acting on its orders.

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters Tuesday that the Russian banker, Sergey Gorkov, had been in the U.S. and meeting with various U.S. representatives.

"These contacts do no need any approval from the Kremlin and naturally (these meetings) did not happen on the Kremlin's orders," Peskov said.

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Kushner, President Trump's son-in-law, accepted a meeting last December with Gorkov.

Gorkov discussed his hope that relations between Russia and Washington would improve, but Kushner said there was no mention of sanctions imposed by the outgoing Obama administration.

Kushner on Monday met behind closed doors with Senate staffers investigating the Russian meddling in the 2016 presidential race.

Kushner said after the meeting that all of his actions in the 2016 campaign were proper and he did not collude with Russia.