Council of Europe voices doubt on fair Russia vote

MOSCOW (Reuters) - The only team of Western observers monitoring Russia's presidential election next month said on Friday it could not deem the contest fair if all the contenders were not given an equal chance.

"An election where there is not a level playing field for all contestants can hardly be considered as fair," Andreas Gross, who will lead a mission of observers from the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe, told a news conference.

(Reporting by Guy Faulconbridge, writing by Dmitry Solovyov, Editing by Christian Lowe)