A high-level Russian diplomatic delegation is heading to Turkey on Thursday for talks amid repeated Turkish threats of a new ground offensive against the Kurdish groups in northern Syria.

The delegation led by Deputy Russian Foreign Minister Sergey Vershinin will hold talks with their Turkish counterparts headed by Turkey’s Deputy Foreign Minister Sedat Onal, the Turkish Foreign Ministry said. 

The visit comes as Ankara  threatens to launch a new ground operation against the Syrian Kurdish groups in northern Syria. “Someone comes out and says: ‘You can't do this in Kobani, you can’t do that in Kobani.’ Kobani is finished,” Turkey’s President Recep Tayyip Erdogan said Tuesday in reference to the Syrian Kurdish town that remains under Russian military influence. “We’ve been taking the necessary measures both in Idlib and Kobani and we will continue to do so,” he added.

Turkey, which backtracked from its ground operation plans in July amid strong Russian and Iranian objections, brought the matter back onto its agenda after the bomb attack in Istanbul last month. Ankara has accused the Syrian Kurdish groups of being behind the attack and launched a massive air campaign against the Kurdish-led Syrian Democratic Forces (SDF) positions. The US-allied SDF flatly denied any involvement in the attack.