BEIJING -- President Xi Jinping said Monday that China is happy to see Russia and relevant parties make positive efforts to defuse the Ukraine crisis.

Xi made the remarks when talking to Russian President Vladimir Putin over phone.

Xi stressed that at the beginning of the overall escalation of the Ukraine crisis, he put forward the "four-should" and other basic proposals for resolving the crisis.

In September last year, China and Brazil, together with some countries of the Global South, set up the Group of Friends for Peace on the Ukraine crisis to create an atmosphere and accumulate conditions for promoting the political settlement of the crisis, Xi noted.

The two sides also agreed to maintain communication and coordination through various means.