Chinese leader Xi Jinping vowed to take his country’s ties with Russia to a new level this year in a video conference with counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, hours after the inauguration of US President Donald Trump.

Russian President Vladimir Putin has had a call with Chinese President Xi Jinping, emphasizing the two countries’ close ties, a day after Donald Trump was sworn in as the 47th U.S. president.

Chinese President Xi Jinping reaffirmed ties with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday, as the two face a more geopolitically assertive US government led by Donald Trump, who criticised the Kremlin's war against Ukraine on the first day of his second term as president.

He also said, however, that the call was "not connected with Trump's inauguration in any way". The call lasted about one-and-a-half hours, during which Putin and Xi also discussed

Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping share a broad world view, which portrays the West as decadent and in decline as China challenges U.S. supremacy in many areas.

Chinese President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin held a video conference on Tuesday to reaffirm and enhance the

In the 1.5-hour video call, the leaders discussed the need to “cope with the uncertainty of the external environment”.

China's President Xi Jinping spoke with Russia's Vladimir Putin over video call on Tuesday, Chinese national broadcaster CCTV said.

The call between the two leaders came just after Trump’s return to office, signaling their intent to reinforce strategic cooperati