Aliyev said on Tuesday during a joint appearance with German Friedrich Merz in Berlin that Azerbaijani authorities only learned of the meeting through flight data analysis. “Our territory was used for such a meeting without our knowledge,” Bloomberg quoted the president as saying. He could not provide details since he was not present, but the flight data confirmed the gathering.
According to media reports, the German side included Ronald Pofalla, former head of the Chancellery under Angela Merkel, and Matthias Platzeck, former minister-president of Brandenburg. On the Russian side, Valery Fadeyev, chairman of the Human Rights Council under President Vladimir Putin, and Viktor Zubkov, former prime minister and current chairman of the board of Gazprom, are said to have participated.
Aliyev stressed that if the meeting helped end the war between Russia and Ukraine, it could only be welcomed. Merz, however, distanced himself clearly: “I have no knowledge of such a meeting,” the chancellor said when asked. Neither Berlin nor Moscow has officially confirmed the participants or the purpose of the meeting.
Source: www.kyivpost.com
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