Russia wants to improve its military ties with China, Putin tells Xi.

The Russian president claims he anticipates the Chinese president visiting Moscow on a state visit in 2023.

President Vladimir Putin told his Chinese counterpart Xi Jinping that relations between Russia and China are at their "best in history," and that Moscow would want to expand its military cooperation with Beijing.

Putin stated that he anticipated Xi to pay a state visit to Moscow in 2023 when the two leaders spoke via video link on Friday. If it happened, Beijing would be publicly expressing its support in the face of Moscow's sputtering military assault in Ukraine.

Putin began the video chat by saying, "We are awaiting you, dear Mr. Chairman, dear friend, we are expecting you next spring on a state visit to Moscow." State television carried the words.

The world would be "demonstrated to the closeness of Russian-Chinese relations," he claimed, during the visit.

Putin spoke for around eight minutes, during which time he stated that he wanted to strengthen military cooperation between China and Russia and that these ties were becoming a more significant stabilizing force.

With regard to the backdrop of what he called a "difficult" situation in the global context, Xi said China was prepared to increase strategic collaboration with Russia in a statement that was around one-fourth as long.

Russia's army chief described the coordinated naval exercises as a reaction to the "aggressive" US military posture in the Asia-Pacific area earlier this month.

In the call, according to Chinese state broadcaster CCTV, Xi "stressed that China has recognized that Russia has never refused to resolve the problem through diplomatic negotiations, for which it [China] expresses its appreciation."

According to CCTV, the Chinese leader warned Putin that the path to peace talks on Ukraine would not be easy and vowed to maintain China's "objective and fair attitude" in the matter.