SOCHI, May 14. /TASS/. The threats that the US administration representatives and leader of the Venezuelan opposition Juan Guaido are addressing to Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro’s government contradict the values of democracy, Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Lavrov said at a joint press conference with US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo on Tuesday.

According to him, the Russian support for dialogue, Venezuelans resolving their issues themselves without ultimatums and preconditions "is based on the notion that democracy should not be established by force." "The threats that Maduro’s government is receiving from the US administration officials as well as Mr. Guaido, who is constantly recalling his right to invite a foreign military intervention, bear no relation to democracy," he said.

According to the Russian top diplomat, Moscow stands for "all national responsible political powers in the country launched a dialogue between them" in the framework of the so-called Montevideo Mechanism. "And the government, as Nicolas Maduro emphasized, is ready for such a dialogue," Lavrov pointed out.

Earlier, leader of the Venezuelan opposition Juan Guaido in an interview with Washington Post said that the attempt to depose President Nicolas Maduro had failed because of the lack of support among the Venezuelan military and did not rule out agreeing to a US proposal to launch a foreign military intervention in Venezuela, should it be made.

On January 23, Juan Guaido, Venezuelan opposition leader and parliament speaker, whose appointment to that position had been cancelled by the country’s Supreme Court, declared himself interim president at a rally in the country’s capital of Caracas. Several countries, including the United States, most of the EU states, Lima Group members (excluding Mexico), Australia, Albania, Georgia and Israel, as well as the Organization of American States, recognized him. Incumbent President Nicolas Maduro, in turn, blasted the move as a coup staged by Washington and said he was severing diplomatic ties with the US. In contrast, Russia, Belarus, Bolivia, Iran, Cuba, Nicaragua, El Salvador, Syria and Turkey voiced support for Maduro.