MOSCOW. May 4 (Interfax) - Moscow believes the upcoming Syrian parliamentary elections is a sign that the authorities want to end the violence.
"The election factor is not a bad factor by all accounts, which indicates that the authorities will do all they can to end the violence as soon as possible, to restore peace and to allow the Syrians to come to terms on their own on how they will move forward, building a democratic state," Russian Foreign Ministry spokesman Alexander Lukashevich said at a press briefing in Moscow on Friday.
Russia will closely follow the Syrian elections, he said, adding that the elections could be obstructed by continuing hotbeds of tension.
"Regrettably, the territory is not fully controlled," he said.