Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that a secret meeting of former senior German and Russian officials took place in Baku in July. The participants discussed possible ways to end Russia’s war against Ukraine.
According to Bloomberg, Aliyev made the statement on July 21 in Berlin during a joint press conference with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
“Our territory was used for such a meeting without our knowledge. I cannot comment on the details, as we were not present at the meeting. However, the flight data allows me to state that a secret meeting did indeed take place in Baku,” the Azerbaijani president said.
According to media reports, the unofficial German delegation included Ronald Pofalla, former chief of staff to Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Matthias Platzeck, former minister-president of the state of Brandenburg. In the Azerbaijani capital, they met with several associates of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
The Russian delegation was reported to include Valery Fadeyev, head of the Russian president’s Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, and former Russian Deputy Prime Minister Viktor Zubkov, who currently chairs the board of directors of the state energy conglomerate Gazprom.
Aliyev said the meeting took place on July 12–14.
“If this meeting was intended to help end the war between Russia and Ukraine, we can only welcome it,” he said.
German Chancellor Friedrich Merz stressed that his government was not involved in the talks.
“I am not aware of any such meeting,” he said.
