GENEVA (AFP) – Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Lavrov said Thursday that Syria handing over chemical weapons and joining the treaty banning them would make U.S. strikes against the country “unnecessary.”

“The solution of this problem makes unnecessary any strikes on Syria, and I am sure that our American partners… are strongly in favor of a peaceful way to regulate chemical weapons in Syria,” Lavrov said, speaking alongside his U.S. counterpart John Kerry.