Vladimir Putin has defied his famously macho image by suggesting that Russia and its military allies set up a rival version of the Eurovision song contest.

In comments as odd as they were unexpected, the Russian prime minister spoke out in favour of a new international modern song competition that he said should be called "Intervision".

Speaking in Beijing, Mr Putin suggested the new song contest should be set up in the incongruous framework of the Shanghai Co-operation Organisation (SCO), a six-nation defence bloc that is more accustomed to conducting joint military exercises than giving each others' crooners nul points.