Russia backs Chinese government on Xinjiang issue

Russia says it considers Xinjiang to be an integral part of China and Sunday's riot is an internal affair.

At a regular press conference on Thursday, Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Andrei Nesterenko answered questions on the Urumqi riots.

Nesterenko said the people who instigated the incident used separatist slogans, incited ethnic grievances, attacked ordinary people, looted shops and caused death and injuries. He said Russia hopes to see a normalization of the situation in Urumqi as soon as possible.

Andrei Nesterenko, spokesman of Russian FM, said, "We believe the Chinese government has the ability to prevent such incidents occurring again in this area. The Chinese government's measures to deal with the riot are according to Chinese law."