President Xi Jinping said on Friday that China supports Russia and Ukraine in resolving their tensions through negotiations, reiterating Beijing's consistent position in respecting sovereignty and territorial integrity of countries and upholding the purposes and principles of the United Nations Charter.

Xi made the remarks in a telephone conversation with Russian President Vladimir Putin after the Ukraine issue escalated on Thursday.

He said China decides its position based on the merits of the Ukrainian issue. It maintains that the Cold War mentality should be completely abandoned, countries' reasonable security concerns should be respected and a balanced, effective and sustained European security mechanism should be finally formed through dialogue and negotiation, Xi added.

For his part, Putin said that the Russian side is ready to hold high-level negotiations with the Ukrainian side.

Xinhua contributed to this story.