New Delhi: In a surprising move, China has heavily come down on Russia for allegedly not letting Chinese citizens enter the country. In a statement on Friday the Chinese embassy called this move of the Russian authorities “brutal”, Bloomberg reported. “Russia’s brutal and excessive law-enforcement activities in this incident have seriously violated the legitimate rights and interests of the Chinese citizens,” the Bloomberg report said, quoting the embassy’s post on Friday on WeChat, the social media platform used in ChinaAccording to a Reuters report regarding the statement, the five Chinese citizens were trying to enter Russia via Kazakhstan late last month. They were not allowed to enter after four hours of questioning and their visas were cancelledThe Bloomberg report said that the Chinese embassy officials “made representation” to Russia’s Foreign Ministry, Federal Security Bureau and Federal Border Guard Service after a video of the incident surfaced.“It goes against the big picture of Sino-Russian friendship and the growing trend of friendly people-to-people exchanges between the two countries,” Bloomberg quoted the Chinese statement as saying.The standoff comes after Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping had last year proclaimed that there were “no limits” in the friendship between the two countries. China has refused to condemn Russia’s war against Ukraine and the bilateral relations the countries have not seen a change. But now, China has demanded answers from Russia on this incident. The Bloomberg report about the Chinese statement said, “The language used in the Chinese embassy’s post is more aligned with what the country’s diplomats reserve for protests against Western nations. The post demanded Russia explain the cause of the incident, take active measures to eliminate the bad influence, and ensure that similar incidents will not recur in the future.”The Chinese statement posted on WeChat was also quoted as saying that Russia needed to “conduct a further investigation into the excessive law enforcement activities by border guards and provide the Chinese side a satisfactory answer”.