President of Azerbaijan Ilham Aliyev stated that a meeting between former high-ranking officials from Germany and Russia took place in the capital city of Baku this month to discuss ways to end Russia’s war against Ukraine, Bloomberg reports.
"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 take place in Baku," Aliyev told reporters in Berlin on Tuesday during a joint press conference with Chancellor Friedrich Merz.
According to media reports, an unofficial German delegation which included former Chief of Staff to Chancellor Angela Merkel Ronald Pofalla and former Governor of Brandenburg Matthias Platzeck held a meeting in the Azerbaijani capital with several associates of Vladimir Putin. According to available information, the Russian delegation included Valery Fadeyev, who heads the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, and Viktor Zubkov, who previously served as Putin’s deputy prime minister and currently chairs the board of state energy conglomerate Gazprom.
"If this meeting was intended to contribute to ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, we can only welcome that," Aliyev said. He added that the meeting took place on July 12–14.
The German Chancellor made it clear that his government had nothing to do with it.
"I’m not aware of any such meeting," Merz replied to a journalist’s question.
