China’s Xi, Russia’s Putin hold phone talks

The Chinese and Russian leaders on Monday held a phone call, Chinese state media reported.

China's President Xi Jinping held a phone conversation with his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin, Xinhua News reported.

The details of the call, made at the request of Moscow, are awaited.

This was the second phone call between the two since US President Donald Trump assumed office last month. The timing of the phone call also coincides with the third anniversary of the Russia-Ukraine war which began in February 2022.

The phone call also comes amid a warming up of ties between Moscow and Washington after the top US and Russian diplomats held talks in Saudi Arabia last week.

Russia and the US are holding talks toward the end of war in Ukraine, while the two sides are also working to operationalize their embassies in Washington and Moscow, which were dysfunctional since the Moscow-Kyiv war began three years ago.