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Secret Baku Talks Between Ex-German and Russian Figures Aimed at Ending Russian Invasion of Ukraine
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Former senior German and Russian officials held secret talks in Baku earlier this month to discuss potential pathways toward ending Russia’s war against Ukraine, Bloomberg reported on July 21.
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev confirmed the meeting during a press conference in Berlin.
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“Our territory was used for such a meeting without our knowledge,” Aliyev told reporters, adding that while Azerbaijani representatives were not present, “the flight data allows me to state that a secret meeting did take place in Baku” between July 12 and July 14, Bloomberg reported.
The unofficial German delegation included Ronald Pofalla, former chief of staff to Chancellor Angela Merkel, and Matthias Platzeck, former state leader of Brandenburg. The Russian participants included Valery Fadeyev, who leads Russian leader Vladimir Putin’s council on civil society and human rights, and Viktor Zubkov, a former deputy prime minister who currently chairs the board of state energy giant Gazprom.
Despite the unannounced nature of the gathering, President Aliyev expressed support for constructive dialogue, stating, “If this meeting was intended to contribute to ending the war between Russia and Ukraine, we can only welcome that.”
Meanwhile, German Chancellor Friedrich Merz distanced his government from the unofficial diplomacy, emphasizing that official Berlin was not involved and stating, “I’m not aware of any such meeting,” according to Bloomberg.
The initiative follows previous controversy surrounding potential German mediation in the war, notably when Vladimir Putin proposed former Chancellor Gerhard Schröder as a negotiator—a suggestion swiftly rejected by both the EU and Ukraine due to his deep ties to Russian state-owned energy conglomerates.
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