Russian President Vladimir Putin has said that interference of a nonregional power in the dispute over the South China Sea can only hamper the solution of this problem.
"This is counterproductive," Putin told a news conference late Monday after the Group of 20 summit wrapped up in China, adding that Russia supports Beijing's stance on The Hague court ruling.
An arbitration court in The Hague ruled in July that China had no historic title over the waters of the South China Sea and had infringed on the rights of the Philippines, which brought the case under the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea.
Beijing rejected the ruling and accused the United States of stirring up trouble in the sea where China's territorial claims overlap in parts with Vietnam, the Philippines, Malaysia, Brunei and Taiwan.