DHAKA: Chinese vice foreign minister Li Baodong on Monday repeated Beijing’s call for calm and restraint in Ukraine, after Crimea’s Moscow-backed leaders declared a 96-percent vote in favor of quitting Ukraine and annexation by Russia.

Li, speaking to reporters ahead of a visit to Europe by president Xi Jinping later this month, added that a political settlement was the only way to resolve the Ukraine crisis.

The Jerusalem Post publishes this report.

BDST: 1842 HRS, MAR 17, 2014