MOSCOW: The Chinese Embassy in Moscow criticised Russia for its treatment of Chinese citizens, who were refused entry into the latter country and called to investigate the incident of ‘violation of rights,’ TASS News Agency reported.

On its WeChat page, the Chinese Embassy said that on July 29 the Russian side denied entry to five Chinese citizens and even cancelled their tourist visas. It also claimed that Russia allegedly interrogated them for four hours.

According to the embassy, the Russian authorities denied entry to the Chinese citizens “because the purpose of their trip indicated in the application for obtaining a visa, did not coincide with the real situation, which is a violation of the relevant norms of Russian legislation.”

“The embassy demanded from Russia to immediately investigate the reasons for the incident and take active measures, maximum efforts to eliminate the negative consequences of this incident,” the message said. The Chinese diplomatic mission also asked to respect the rights of Chinese citizens and guarantee that such cases will not happen again, reported TASS News Agency.

The Chinese diplomats appealed to the relevant Russian state bodies, including the Russian Foreign Ministry. According to the statement, the Russian side called the incident an isolated case and expressed readiness to receive Chinese citizens on a non-discriminatory basis.