Lavrov urges Syrian polls, says Russia ready to back FSA

Moscow on Saturday urged all sides in Syria to begin preparations for presidential and parliamentary elections, saying it hoped to see political progress on the crisis in the forseeable future.

Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said the topic of elections was discussed with Syrian President Bashar al-Assad, who visited Moscow earlier this week, his first visit since the Syrian civil war began in 2011.

"He himself suggested the idea that the military phase in opposing terrorism must be supplemented by the consolidation of the healthy part of society and the start of a political process," Lavrov told Rossiya 1 television channel. 

Lavrov said that a "correct understanding" of the Syria situation was developing among Western politicians, which "gives hope that the political process will move forward".

"I am sure that the successes that the Syrian army is demonstrating today with our aerial support enable the government to consolidate its positions and should make the government more interested in promoting a political process," Lavrov said.

Lavrov also said that Russia's air force is ready to support the Free Syrian Army, the main Western-backed opposition group battling Assad, in its fight against Islamic State.

"The main thing for us is to approach the people fully in charge of representing these or those armed groups fighting terrorism among other things," he said, according to a transcript released by the state-controlled channel.

On Friday, Russian President Vladimir Putin’s spokesperson said Russia was ready to support the moderate opposition but was unable to find it.

"We have been unable to single out the so-called moderate opposition,” the spokesperson said. "There is not a single central force which one could cooperate with.

"All the difficulties arise from this. Neither our American nor our European colleagues, nor others are so far able to help us with identifying them," he added.

Lavrov's comments come a day after a meeting in Vienna between Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia and the US to discuss Syria ended without any apparent breakthrough on how to end the five-year conflict.

US Secretary of State John Kerry suggested that the leaders could reconvene as soon as 30 October.