Secretary of State John Kerry will travel to Geneva on Friday to meet his Russian counterpart, Sergey Lavrov, the State Department said Thursday.

“Their discussion follows recent conversations on Syria and will focus on reducing violence, expanding humanitarian assistance for the Syrian people, and moving towards a political solution needed to end the civil war,” according to an agency statement.

The news comes after spokesman Mark Toner repeatedly denied the two diplomats would meet, noting that it is not worth it for Kerry to travel to the Swiss capital until the team there ripened some of the technical details of a deal between Moscow and Washington.

Russian media reported earlier Thursday that Lavrov traveled to Geneva to meet his American counterpart.

The two leaders in recent weeks have been in talks about a deal for military cooperation in the war-torn country to fight Daesh and other extremist groups and, a truce between the regime of Bashar al-Assad and opposition groups.

Kerry and Lavrov met in China last week on the sidelines of the G20 Summit. Two days of talks ended Monday without a deal.

Source: aa.com.tr