Russian President Vladimir Putin told Chinese President Xi Jinping on Tuesday that Moscow and Beijing's foreign policy ties played a stabilising role in international affairs.

The U.S. “will have to out-think” Russia and China to prevent them from using nuclear weapons to resolve a future crisis, the outgoing head of the National Nuclear Security Administration said last week.

China's largest airline, China Southern Airlines, has suspended flights from Beijing to Moscow at the end of January, a surprise move that comes just ahead of the Chinese New Year. Newsweek reached out to China Southern Airlines and the Russian Foreign Ministry with an emailed request for comment outside of office hours.

In December, Russia reportedly sold its stakes in certain Kazakh uranium deposits to Chinese-owned companies. This involved Kazakhstan's nuclear resources company, Kazatomprom, and Russia's Rosatom transferring interests to Chinese entities, National Security News reported.

Russia signed a strategic partnership treaty with Iran on Friday that follows similar pacts with China and North Korea. All three countries are adversaries of the United States, and Russia has used its ties with them to help blunt the impact of Western sanctions and boost its war effort in Ukraine.

Reliance on Russia’s military offerings has become increasingly prevalent in parts of Africa, amid an aggressive push by Moscow to lessen Western influence on the continent.

An outgoing Biden administration official overseeing nukes warned against a new arms race with Russia and China in her farewell address Thursday.

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

During the Cold War, there was a time when China would have been paranoid about Russia and North Korea conspiring behind its back. Those worries, however, are now relics of a bygone era characterized by a radically different balance of power among this authoritarian triangle.

U.S. President Donald Trump faces a challenge with a more united group of adversaries, including China, Russia, Iran, and North Korea, who have grown closer since Russia's invasion of Ukraine. Despite Trump's efforts to curb their influence,

President Xi Jinping told his Russian counterpart Vladimir Putin on Tuesday that China hoped to take ties with Moscow to "new heights" this year, Chinese state media reported, hours after Donald Trump was sworn in as US President.