The anti-governmental protests in Egypt are driven by radicals who seek power, a senior Russian lawmaker said on Friday.
The largest country in the Arab world with a population of 80 million, Egypt, plunged into mass opposition riots on January 25 with thousands of people demanding President Hosni Mubarak step down after three decades in power.
At least seven people have been killed and up to 1,000 arrested since the protests began, inspired by the so-called Jasmine Revolution in Tunisia. Tunisian President Zine al-Abidine Ben Ali fled to Saudi Arabia earlier in January.
"It is clear there is a peculiar anxiety that has accumulated for years, even for decades, directed at the unchanging people in power," said Konstanin Kosachyov, who heads the international affairs committee of the Russian parliament's lower house, the State Duma.
But there is a risk that radical groups may seize power, Kosachyov added.
"Russia's position...is to stand for constitutional legal methods of settling all political disputes, through elections, but not revolution," the lawmaker said, adding that countries should foster democracy as it is "insurance against any revolutionary plots."
MOSCOW, January 28 (RIA Novosti)
