BEIJING — Chinese language President Xi Jinping and Russian President Vladimir Putin held their second devoted video name of the yr Wednesday, amid rising worldwide issues about tensions on the Russia-Ukraine border.

Putin gained assist from Xi for his push to acquire binding safety ensures for Russia from the West, a Kremlin official mentioned, in keeping with Reuters.

Russia needs the US and NATO to ensure the navy alliance is not going to broaden additional eastward or deploy weapons techniques in Ukraine and different nations on Russia’s border.

Putin additionally known as Xi his “pricey buddy” and mentioned relations between the 2 nations had reached “an unprecedentedly high level,” in keeping with a report of the decision’s opening remarks from Russian state information company TASS.

The 2 leaders’ video name lasted simply over an hour, from 4:07 p.m. to five:21 p.m. Beijing time, in keeping with Chinese language state media. Few different particulars on the decision had been obtainable as of late Wednesday Beijing time.

Xi and Putin final met in late June, additionally through video hyperlink. Earlier within the yr, the 2 leaders met through video as a part of a ceremony for launching a nuclear energy reactor venture. Putin and Xi additionally spoke by telephone in August following the Taliban’s seizure of energy in Afghanistan because the U.S. withdrew troops.

Forward of the digital assembly, Kremlin spokesperson Dmitry Peskov mentioned the 2 leaders would talk about tensions in Europe and described the 2 nations as “allies,” according to Reuters.

“We see very, very aggressive rhetoric on the NATO and U.S. facet, and this requires dialogue between us and the Chinese language,” the spokesperson mentioned, in keeping with the Reuters report.

Members of NATO — a robust navy alliance — vowed in June to address threats from China in addition to Russia.

In a digital assembly with U.S. President Joe Biden final week, Putin mentioned Washington should not allow Ukraine to join NATO in return for assurances that Russian troops wouldn’t perform an assault.

Biden mentioned Washington wouldn’t settle for such a requirement.

An assault on one member of NATO is taken into account an assault on all member nations. Ukraine has wished to affix the alliance since 2002, however Russia objected on grounds that such a transfer can be a direct risk to its borders.

It’s much less clear what Beijing’s place is on Ukraine. Xi spoke over the telephone with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky in July, in keeping with China’s foreign ministry.

G-7 leaders on Sunday issued an announcement condemning “Russia’s military build-up and aggressive rhetoric towards Ukraine.” The U.S., Canada, France, Germany, Italy, Japan and the UK are a part of the bloc of main economies.

China is just not a part of the G-7. The nation shares a protracted border with Russia and far of their bilateral relationship has centered on commerce, particularly in vitality. This yr, China bought significant amounts of coal and different gasoline from its northern neighbor to assist ease a scarcity of coal.

Xi mentioned Wednesday that he seemed ahead to seeing Putin on the Olympics in Beijing, and to start out a brand new chapter in China-Russia relations post-Covid, in keeping with Chinese language state media.

The Video games are set to start out in early February, and Biden has introduced a diplomatic boycott, though athletes can nonetheless attend.

— CNBC’s Abigail Ng contributed to this report.