The Chinese Foreign Ministry responded to Russia's measures to temporarily suspend the entry of Chinese citizens to the country amid the threat of the spread of the novel coronavirus pneumonia (NCP), saying it had been informed in advance about the action through diplomatic channels.

"Russia stressed that it firmly supports China's fight against the epidemic and firmly believes that China will win the fight," spokesperson Geng Shuang said at a press briefing on Wednesday.

He added that Russia has taken some restrictive measures out of the need of its own prevention and control efforts, but these actions do not mean a total ban on personnel exchanges between the two countries.