Russia says China on board over its actions in Ukraine; Beijing less forthright

China and Russia are in broad agreement on the situation in Ukraine, the Russian foreign ministry said yesterday after telephone talks between the countries' top diplomats.

This came as Russia cemented its control of the Crimean peninsula and the US and European governments tried to figure out ways to halt and reverse the Russian incursion. The Moscow stock market fell by 11.3 per cent, wiping billions off the value of Russian companies.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov and his Chinese counterpart Wang Yi in a phone call noted "broadly coinciding points of view of Russia and China over the situation", the Russian foreign ministry said. Russia appeared keen to stress that it has a major international ally on its military intervention in Ukraine after the other members of the G8 on Sunday released a statement condemning Russia. China is not a member of the G8.

When asked about Ukraine at a regular press briefing yesterday, foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang answered indirectly. "China has always upheld the principles of diplomacy and the fundamental norms of international relations," he said.

Qin also referred to his statement posted on the ministry's website a day earlier, which also noted that "there are reasons that the Ukrainian situation is what it is today".

Niu Jun , a professor of international affairs at Peking University, said: "What this statement is really saying is, 'what Russia did was not right and China does not want to support this military invasion'."