Greek Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras speaks to journalists when he arrives to attend an European Union (EU) emergency summit on the migration crisis at EU Headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, Sept. 23, 2015. (Xinhua/Ye Pingfan)

ATHENS, March 16 (Xinhua) -- The Greek government denounced on Thursday a media report over snap elections soon as "fake news".

"We are officially in the era of fake news. This time with the signature of Reuters. It is a pity," the press office of Prime Minister Alexis Tsipras said in an e-mailed statement.

According to a Reuters report, citing vague sources, released earlier on Thursday, the Left leader was about to make a TV address or release a statement by the weekend calling early elections, just 17 months after the previous national polls.

"Reuters news agency should, at this difficult period for Europe, be more careful and not host 'reports' of dubious origin and zero credibility," the Greek government announcement said.

Stressing that Greece and its international creditors are in the middle of a "critical negotiation", the statement said "we hope it is just nonsense, because we do not want to believe that some people are playing games with the stock market."

Greek officials and Greece's international lenders have stepped up efforts in recent weeks to close the gap regarding conditions to conclude the second review of Greece's third bailout which should have closed more than a year ago, according to the initial schedules agreed in 2015.

Despite pending issues, Athens expects that significant progress may be achieved by next Monday's Euro Group meeting and the assessment will close successfully this spring.