The Kremlin said today it was fed up of being dragged into the U.S. election campaign as the candidates threw brickbats at each other.

Moscow said Russia and its president, Vladimir Putin, were repeatedly being presented in a negative light by Hillary Clinton, Donald Trump and their running mates.

It comes after the Republican presidential candidate claimed Russia had broken a deal with the US over a ceasefire in Syria and Putin did not respect American leaders.

Donald Trump (left) has been accused of admiring autocrats like Vladimir Putin (right) but the Russians say they do not want to be dragged into the race for the White House

Mrs Clinton, and her running mate Tim Kaine, have frequently accused Trump of admiring foreign dictators and autocrats like Putin.

Last month Trump praised Putin for his 'strong control' over Russia and said he was 'far more' of a leader than Obama.

Trump said: 'When he (Putin) calls me brilliant I'll take the compliment, okay? The fact is, look, it's not gonna get him anywhere. If he says great things about me, I'm going to say great things about him.'

Russia came up during last night's Vice-Presidential debate at Longwood University in Virginia.

Mr Kaine said of Trump: 'He loves dictators. He's got like a personal Mount Rushmore: Vladimir Putin, Kim Jong-un, Muammar Gaddafi and Saddam Hussein.'

Trump's running mate, Mike Pence, accused Mrs Clinton of having stoked up Russia's belligerence.

'The weak and feckless foreign policy of Hillary Clinton and Barack Obama has awaked an aggression in Russia that first appeared in Russia a few years ago,' he said.

Mr Pence (left) and Mr Kaine (right) shook hands at the end of last night's debate but the pair hurled insults about each other's running mates when it came to their policies on Russia

'All the while, all we do is fold our arms and say we're not having talks any more.'

In July Trump took heat when he spoke about encouraging Russia try to uncover Hillary Clinton's emails.

'Russia, if you're listening, I hope you're able to find the 30,000 emails that are missing,' Trump said, half-jokingly.

At a National Press Club luncheon in 2014 Trump said: 'I own Miss Universe, I was in Russia, I was in Moscow recently and I spoke, indirectly and directly, with President Putin, who could not have been nicer, and we had a tremendous success.'

Many Russian analysts believe Putin would prefer to deal with Donald Trump rather than Hillary Clinton (pictured, with husband Bill)

He backtracked on that earlier this year, telling ABC's George Stephanopoulos: 'I have no relationship with Putin. I don't think I've ever met him. I never met him. I don't think I've ever met him.'

Andrey Kortunov, director general of the Russian International Affairs Council, a think tank close to the Russian Foreign Ministry, said recently: '(Hillary Clinton) is not perceived by many people as the Kremlin's preferred candidate.

'Many here believe that she would be tougher on Russia than Obama.'

Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov said today: 'Of course we would like our country to be mentioned only positively, but to our regret we know that the Russian card and mentioning our president have practically become an inseparable part of America's election campaign.'