Azerbaijan president says German-Russian talks were held in Baku

BERLIN/BAKU, July 21 - Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said on Tuesday that flight records suggested former and current German and Russian officials had held a clandestine meeting in Baku this month, in what was Azerbaijan's first confirmation of the visits.

Former senior German officials Ronald Pofalla and Matthias Platzeck have been holding secret meetings with high-ranking allies of Russian President Vladimir Putin, including Gazprom board chair and former prime minister Viktor Zubkov and EU-sanctioned figures, in Baku since 2024, according to a joint investigation by Die Zeit and ARD broadcaster.

German security agencies say these gatherings are a Russian influence operation designed to shape German policy, according to the media outlets, with the Russian side reportedly seeking to convey that the Ukraine war can only end on Moscow's terms while exploring how to normalise bilateral ties after the conflict ends.

Speaking after a meeting in Berlin with Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Azerbaijan's Aliyev said Baku had investigated the visits after reading about them in media reports.

"We received no information about this from either Germany or Russia," Aliyev said. "In other words, our territory was simply used without our knowledge."

The German foreign ministry did not immediately respond to a request for comment. Reuters was not immediately able to reach Pofalla and Platzeck to seek comment.

BACK CHANNEL TO BERLIN?

Azerbaijan has sought to maintain relations with both Moscow and Kyiv since Russia launched its full-scale invasion of Ukraine in February 2022, providing humanitarian aid to Ukraine while not joining Western sanctions on Russia.

But its relationship with Moscow has come under pressure in recent years, in particular after Russian air defences mistakenly shot down an Azerbaijani passenger airliner in December 2024, killing at least 38 people.

Last year, meetings in Baku between German politicians including senior Social Democrat Ralf Stegner as well as Pofalla, and Russians including Zubkov and Valeriy Fadeyev, chair of Russia's human rights council, triggered concern from German legislators. At the time, four German participants including Pofalla and Stegner confirmed attending a "private" event in Baku.

The meetings have taken place as relations between Russia and the European Union remain deeply strained over Moscow's invasion of Ukraine.

While the German ex-politicians hold no official positions, they remain well-connected within the governing CDU and SPD parties, the German media reports say, potentially giving Moscow a back channel to influence Berlin's stance on the war at a time when Western governments are trying to maintain diplomatic isolation of Russia.

Aliyev said flight records showed Pofalla, who once led former Chancellor Angela Merkel's office, and Platzeck, former federal chairman of the SPD, travelled to Baku on July 12 from Berlin and returned on July 14.

During this period, Zubkov and Fadeyev also travelled to the Azerbaijani capital, Aliyev said.

The flight records "give grounds to say that such a secret meeting was held in Baku," he said.

Merz said on Tuesday he was unaware such a meeting took place.

Gazprom did not reply to a request for comment. VCIOM, a Russian pollster on whose board of directors Fadeyev sits, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

Aliyev said he could not provide any specifics on the July visit, but he added: "If this meeting will bring an end to the Ukraine-Russia war ... then of course we welcome it." REUTERS