  Nonlinear Bessel beams in self-defocusing media are found to be the natural,
non-diffracting background where vortex solitons can be nested, interact and
survive for propagation distances that are one order of magnitude larger than
in the usual Gaussian or super-Gaussian backgrounds. The dynamics of the vortex
solitons approaches that in the ideal, uniform background, preventing vortex
spiraling and decay, which eases vortex steering for applications.
