Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro speaks during a meeting with members of the Venezuelan diplomatic corp after their arrival from the United States, at the Miraflores Palace in Caracas, Venezuela January 28, 2019. Miraflores Palace/Handout via REUTERS

MOSCOW (Reuters) - Russia on Wednesday called on the opposition in Venezuela to set aside any pre-conditions it may have and to start talks with President Nicolas Maduro.

The call was issued by Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov who said Moscow wanted to help create the conditions for dialogue between the authorities and the opposition.

Lavrov said any international mediation in such talks should be impartial and involve a broad spectrum of countries. Russia was in talks with China and Latin American and European countries to further such dialogue, he said.