Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev has confirmed that former German and Russian officials held secret talks in Baku. Speaking during a joint press conference in Berlin with German Chancellor Friedrich Merz, Aliyev said Azerbaijan only became aware of the meetings through media reports and had not been officially notified by either Berlin or Moscow.JOIN US ON TELEGRAMFollow our coverage of the war on the @Kyivpost_official. Merz denied any German government involvement, saying he had no prior knowledge of the initiative. According to flight records cited by media reports, the clandestine meeting took place in the Azerbaijani capital from July 12 to 14. Aliyev’s remarks marked Azerbaijan’s first public acknowledgment of the reported visits, though he emphasized that Baku did not organize, host or participate in the talks. Similar quiet channels of dialogue reportedly also took place in Baku last year. Unofficial diplomatic channels The confirmation follows a joint investigation by German media outlets Die Zeit and ARD, which reported that former senior German politicians have been holding back-channel discussions with Russian representatives in Baku since 2024. Among those reportedly involved on the German side were former Chancellery chief Ronald Pofalla and former Brandenburg Minister-President Matthias Platzeck. The Russian delegation reportedly included senior figures close to Vladimir Putin, including Gazprom chairman Viktor Zubkov and Valery Fadeyev, head of the Russian Presidential Council for Civil Society and Human Rights.