MOSCOW - The Kremlin said on Thursday it hoped calm would be restored in Bolivia in the wake of an attempted coup, after the Russian Foreign Ministry condemned the plotters and expressed Moscow's support for the government of President Luis Arce.

Bolivian armed forces pulled back from the presidential palace in La Paz on Wednesday evening and a general was arrested after Arce slammed a "coup" attempt against the government and called for international support.

"This is an internal Bolivian affair. It is very important that our Bolivian friends deal with their own problems within the framework of constitutional legality," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters.

"We wish that country a speedy return to calm, and we hope that this will be the case. Of course, it is very important that there was no interference by third countries in what happened in Bolivia."

  - Reuters