MOSCOW — Russia is carefully observing the mass unrest across Iran, taking a very cautious stance of not saying or doing anything that might be seen as encroaching on Iranian domestic issues.

The Russian Foreign Ministry said Jan. 1 that Moscow sees the protests as "Iran's internal affair.”

"We express hope that the situation won’t develop under the scenario of bloodshed and violence," the statement read. "External interference destabilizing the situation is inadmissible."

Major Russian-state TV networks doubled down on the message. While they mentioned economic grievances and the unemployment situation in Iran, they stressed that the challenges are “manageable,” but that “outside forces” are working hard to aggravate the problems. TV channel Russia-1 said in a news program that Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei's claims that the protests were being fueled by the United States, the UK and Saudi Arabia "weren’t entirely groundless." The station referred to “Iranian sources” that suggested “every third tweet instigating protests [was coming] from Riyadh."