Photo: EPA
Former senior officials from Germany and Russia recently held a meeting in Baku to discuss possible ways to end the war in Ukraine, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said, according to Bloomberg.
Speaking alongside German Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin, Aliyev said Azerbaijan's territory had been used for the meeting without the government's prior knowledge.
"Our territory was used for such a meeting without our knowledge," Aliyev said.
He added that he could not comment on the substance of the discussions because no Azerbaijani representatives attended, but said flight records indicated that the private meeting in Baku did take place.
According to Bloomberg, citing media reports, the unofficial German delegation included Ronald Pofalla, former chief of staff to ex-Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Matthias Platzeck, the former premier of the German state of Brandenburg.
The Russian participants reportedly included Valery Fadeyev, head of Russia's Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights, and Viktor Zubkov, a former Russian deputy prime minister who now chairs the board of state-controlled energy giant Gazprom.
"If the purpose of this meeting was to help bring an end to the war between Russia and Ukraine, we can only welcome it," Aliyev said.
He added that the talks took place between July 12 and July 14.
Merz said he had no knowledge of the meeting.
The reported talks come as media reports have suggested that Russian President Vladimir Putin continues to reject calls for negotiations with Ukraine, while Kyiv's allies are pushing for additional economic sanctions aimed at increasing pressure on Moscow to end the war.
