"It is important to try to find opportunities for mutually acceptable solutions, which would make it possible to avoid further destabilization and to overcome the current crisis within the existing constitutional framework," Russia's Foreign Ministry said in a statement.
The statement came after PA President Mahmoud Abbas announced an early general election, a move denounced as a coup attempt by the radical Islamic group Hamas, which dominates the government.
Earlier, Abbas, a leader of the moderate Fatah faction, unsuccessfully tried to form a national unity government in a bid to overcome factional infighting and persuade the West to remove an embargo imposed following Hamas' landslide victory in January polls. The United States and many European countries classify the militant movement as a terrorist organization.
