Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov looks on during a meeting of Russian President Vladimir Putin with Lebanese President Michel Aoun at the Kremlin in Moscow, Russia March 26, 2019. REUTERS/Maxim Shemetov/Pool

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov dismissed as untrue on Thursday assertions by U.S. officials that Moscow had urged Venezuela’s President Nicolas Maduro not to leave the country amid the continuing unrest there, RIA news agency reported.

RIA also cited Lavrov as saying that Russia and the United States had irreconcilable positions on Venezuela but that they had agreed to continue talks.