Vladimir Putin has suggested that Britain jumped the gun in grounding flights to and from the Egyptian resort of Sharm el-Sheikh in response to the downing of a Russian airliner on Saturday.
In a 10-minute phone conversation with David Cameron, the Russian President said that all countries should await the outcome of a Russian-Egyptian investigation into the tragedy before coming to conclusions about its causes.
But the Prime Minister insisted that his response to the crash would be driven by the need to protect the safety of British citizens.
Downing Street played down suggestions of a row, insisting that the exchange was "cordial" and that Mr Putin thanked the Prime Minister for calling him personally to explain the rationale behind the UK's move.
Mr Cameron's official spokeswoman said that the PM reiterated his condolences for the 224 victims on board the Metrojet Airbus 321, the vast majority of whom were Russian.
"The Prime Minister and the President agreed that we face a common threat from terrorism," said the spokeswoman.
Asked whether Mr Putin had expressed any criticism of the UK's actions, the spokeswoman said: "The President underlined that he thought all countries should wait for the investigation to be completed.
"The Prime Minister was very clear that he will be driven by what is right for the safety of British citizens and that we were right to take the action that we did based on the information that we had in front of us and our assessment of the situation."
The Kremlin said in a statement: "Vladimir Putin stressed that assessment of the causes of the crash should be based on the data that would become available in the course of the official investigation that is currently under way."
The UK said on Wednesday that it was "increasingly concerned" that the plane may have been brought down by an explosive device, though Mr Cameron has made clear he could not be certain on this point.
The PM's National Security Adviser Sir Kim Darroch has spoken to his Russian counterpart to share details of the intelligence that lay behind the PM's decision to ground flights.
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