Venezuela's President Nicolas Maduro talks to the media after a meeting for signing an agreement on guarantees for the vote at the National Electoral Council (CNE) headquarters in Caracas, Venezuela March 2, 2018. Marco Bello | Reuters

Venezuela defused a potential showdown with the United States, suspending a demand that U.S. diplomats leave the country as Washington called on the world to "pick a side" in the South American nation's fast-moving crisis. Socialist President Nicolas Maduro broke relations with the United States on Wednesday after the Trump administration and many other nations in the region recognized opposition leader Juan Guaido as Venezuela's interim president, a move that Maduro called a coup attempt. The State Department did not confirm the Venezuelan government's account, reiterating only that its priority remains the safety of its personnel and that it has no plans to close the embassy. Earlier Saturday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo told the U.N. Security Council: "Let me be 100 percent clear — President Trump and I fully expect that our diplomats will continue to receive protections provided under the Vienna Convention. Do not test the United States on our resolve to protect our people." In the Security Council meeting, critics and supporters of Maduro's government faced off in a reflection of the world's deep divisions over Venezuela, which is mired in political confrontation as well as an economic collapse that has caused millions to flee the country. During the debate, which was requested by the U.S., Pompeo urged all nations to end Venezuela's "nightmare" and support Guaido. "Now is the time for every other national to pick a side," Pompeo said. "No more delays, no more games. Either you stand with the forces of freedom, or you're in league with Maduro and his mayhem."

Demonstrators shout slogans while a barricades seen burning in the background during a demonstration against Nicolas Maduro policies. Rally against the government of Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro and also to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the end of Marcos Pérez Jiménez's dictatorship in Caracas. Roman Camacho | SOPA Images | LightRocket | Getty Images

Russian Ambassador Vassily Nebenzia charged that the Trump administration is trying "to engineer a coup" against Maduro. He said Venezuela doesn't threaten international peace and security, and he accused "extremist opponents" of Maduro's government of choosing "maximum confrontation," including the artificial creation of a parallel government. Nebenzia urged Pompeo to say whether the U.S. will use military force. Pompeo later told reporters who asked for a response, "I am not going to speculate or hypothesize on what the U.S. will do next." Pompeo was accompanied to New York by Elliott Abrams, who was named a day earlier as the U.S. special representative for Venezuela. Abrams is a former assistant secretary of state for Latin America who worked at the White House when a 2002 coup in Venezuela briefly ousted Maduro's predecessor, the late Hugo Chavez. On his first day on the job, Abrams met with exiled leaders of Venezuela's opposition. He also spoke by phone with Guaido, the leader of Venezuela's opposition-controlled congress. Abrams reaffirmed U.S. support for Guaido as interim president, said Kimberly Breier, the current assistant secretary of state for the region. The Security Council, the U.N.'s most powerful body, has not taken action on the Venezuelan crisis because of the divisions. The Security Council's five veto-holding permanent members could not unite behind a statement on Venezuela, presenting widely differing texts. The leaders of two of those council nations — France and Britain — joined Spain and Germany to turn up the pressure on Maduro, saying Saturday that they would follow the U.S. and others in recognizing Guaido as president unless Venezuela calls a new presidential election within eight days. The European Union's foreign policy chief, Federica Mogherini, said that if there is no announcement of a new election in the next days, the 28-nation bloc "will take further actions, including on the issue of recognition of the country's leadership." Venezuelan Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza dismissed the deadline. "Europe is giving us eight days?" he asked the council. "Where do you get that you have the power to establish a deadline or an ultimatum to a sovereign people. It's almost childlike."

Juan Guaido, President of Venezuela's National Assembly, reacts during a rally against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro's government and to commemorate the 61st anniversary of the end of the dictatorship of Marcos Perez Jimenez in Caracas, Venezuela January 23, 2019. Carlos Garcia Rawlins | Reuters