Vladimir Putin reveals he and Donald Trump are on first name terms as leaders work together on North Korea crisis

Vladimir Putin has revealed he and Donald Trump are on first-name terms as it emerged the pair are working together to solve the North Korea nuclear crisis.

The Russian leader spoke to the media for four hours in his end-of-year news conference on Thursday, explaining: "This is how relations should be between people like us."

He added: "I'm not the one to evaluate the president's work. That needs to be done by the voters, the American people.

"(But) we are objectively seeing that there have been some major accomplishments, even in the short time he has been working.

"Look at how the markets have grown. This speaks to investors' trust in the American economy."

He went on to say that allegations of Russian meddling in the 2016 US presidential elections had been “invented” by enemies of Mr Trump.

He said: "The people who do this are dealing a blow to the state of (US) domestic politics.”

Later on Thursday, the two leaders spoke on the phone to discuss the “very dangerous situation in North Korea”.

The White House said Mr Trump also thanked the Russian leader for "acknowledging America's strong economic performance" in his news conference.

The Kremlin said in a statement that Mr Trump and Mr Putin discussed bilateral relations and the situation in the Korean Peninsula.