Germany's government says that Chancellor Olaf Scholz had a phone call with Russian President Vladimir Putin, the first such conversation in two years.

President Vladimir Putin told German Chancellor Olaf Scholz on Friday that Russia was ready to look at energy deals if Berlin was interested, the Kremlin said, in their first phone conversation since December 2022.

By Vladimir Soldatkin and Guy Faulconbridge MOSCOW (Reuters) -Russian gas giant Gazprom continued to pump steady volumes of gas to Europe via Ukraine on Saturday, but supplies to Austrian energy company OMV were halted hours after Vienna said Russia had given notice it would cut off flows.

Russia's state-owned natural gas supplier said it won't send any more gas to Austria after Saturday, but Austrian officials say that won't be a problem.

Austrian utility OMV says supplies from Russia’s state-owned natural gas company Gazprom stopped early Saturday after the company said it would stop payments for the gas following an arbitration award

The president said stronger ties with South Korea and Japan are working, but did not address whether President-elect Donald J. Trump would continue his approach when he takes office in January.

Biden was expected to press Xi to use his leverage over Kim Jong Un to dissuade North Korea from further deepening its support for Russia's war in Ukraine but there were no reports any such talks took place.