Secret talks were held between Russian and German officials on ending the war in Ukraine: key details
21 July 20:14
Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev said that a closed-door meeting of former high-ranking officials from Russia and Germany took place in Baku on July 12–14, aimed at exploring ways to end the war in Ukraine, according to "Komersant Ukrainian", citing Bloomberg.
According to Aliyev, the Azerbaijani authorities were not informed about the talks, but flight records confirmed that the meeting took place.
“Our territory was used for such a meeting without our knowledge… If this meeting is intended to help end the war between Russia and Ukraine, we can only welcome it,” the Azerbaijani president said Tuesday in Berlin during a joint press conference with the German chancellor.
Friedrich Merz stated that the federal government is unaware of any such contacts and has no involvement in them.
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Details of these meetings were previously reported in a joint investigation by the newspaper Die Zeit and the ARD television network.
According to the reports, Viktor Zubkov, the former Prime Minister of Russia and current Chairman of the Board of Directors of Gazprom, has been holding regular closed-door meetings with former German officials since 2024.
According to the reports, Zubkov and members of the Russian delegation may have used these contacts to influence German political parties and the government. A correspondent for Die Zeit reported that security at the Four Seasons Hotel in Baku asked outsiders to leave the hallway adjacent to the conference room where the talks were taking place. German security agencies view these meetings as a possible Russian operation to influence German politics.
The talks were attended by Ronald Pofalla, former head of the German Federal Chancellery, and Matthias Platzeck, former prime minister of the state of Brandenburg. Pofalla and Zubkov have a long-standing relationship: they served as co-chairs of the “St. Petersburg Dialogue” forum, established in 2001 under the patronage of the Russian president and former German Chancellor Gerhard Schröder.
Accompanying Zubkov to Baku were Valery Fadeev, chairman of the Presidential Council for the Development of Civil Society and Human Rights, and Alexei Gromyko, director of the Institute of Europe at the Russian Academy of Sciences. Although Pofalla and Plattek do not hold government positions, they maintain ties with parties in Germany’s ruling coalition: Pofalla represents the CDU, and Plattek represents the SPD. According to Die Zeit, the Russian side intended to convey to its German counterparts that ending the war in Ukraine is possible only on Russia’s terms, and that once the conflict ends, the issue of normalizing German-Russian relations should be considered.
On July 19, the British newspaper The Times, citing sources, reported that various options for possible mediation in contacts with Moscow are being discussed in Berlin. The Kremlin emphasized that Moscow is open to dialogue. “We hear many statements on this subject; we hear a lot of discussion among European politicians, including in Germany. But in practical terms, this does not translate into the actual policies of these countries,” said Dmitry Peskov, a spokesperson for the Russian president.
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