Russia's exit from Syria will disrupt supplies to its forces in Africa. But as Moscow's fortunes in the resource-rich Continent wane, Beijing's are rising

The two leaders have developed strong personal ties that helped boost relations between Moscow and Beijing, growing even closer after Putin sent troops into Ukraine in 2022.

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.

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.

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.

The US President has previously called for tariffs as high as 60% on China, and analysts have expressed mixed feelings about the news.

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. Presidents Vladimir Putin and Xi Jinping met in Beijing on Feb.

President Donald Trump is taking a more assertive role on the global stage, aiming to establish Washington as an aggressive driver of global affairs, with a focus on maximum pressure on Iran and a

Moscow responds to Trump ultimatum as 1,000 North Koreans killed in Kursk - Kremlin seeks to play down new Trump threat over war in Ukraine