U.S. Secretary of State Rex Tillerson | Nicholas Kamm/AFP via Getty Images Tillerson to meet Lavrov in Moscow next week US secretary of state to attend G-7 foreign ministers’ meeting before Russia trip.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will travel to Moscow next Wednesday for a meeting with Russian officials, including the Kremlin’s foreign minister, Sergey Lavrov.

Tillerson plans to discuss issues including Ukraine, North Korea, Syria, and counterterrorism with the officials while in Moscow, according to the State Department.

The “trip is part of our effort to maintain direct lines of communication with senior Russian officials and to ensure U.S. views are clearly conveyed, including on next steps in Minsk implementation,” the department said in a statement.

Tillerson’s trip to Russia comes as U.S. intelligence officials continue to investigate the Kremlin’s suspected attempts to interfere in the 2016 presidential election through cyberattacks on Democratic Party officials. The FBI is also probing any links between President Donald Trump’s campaign and Russia and whether the campaign may have coordinated with the Kremlin on the election meddling (Trump has denied this).

Before traveling to Moscow on April 12, Tillerson will spend April 9 through 11 at the G-7 foreign ministers’ meeting in Lucca, Italy, where he will “also meet with several of his counterparts for bilateral discussions.”

The State Department raised some eyebrows when it announced last month that Tillerson will skip the April NATO foreign ministers’ meeting and attend the G-7 event and go to Moscow instead.

Trump broke from U.S. foreign policy tradition when he spoke critically of NATO during the campaign (and when he praised Russia’s autocratic president, Vladimir Putin). He has signaled more support for the alliance since his inauguration.