WATCH: Aliyev Blows Up Merz's Denial: Yes, There Was a Secret Russia Meeting in Baku. At his joint press conference with Chancellor Friedrich Merz in Berlin, Azerbaijani President Ilham Aliyev publicly confirmed that a secret German-Russian backchannel meeting took place in Baku on July 12–14 — moments after Merz flatly denied knowing anything about it. Asked by Deutsche Welle's Roman Goncharenko about German media reports of "an informal German-Russian meeting" with "former high-ranking politicians from governing parties," Merz said simply: I know nothing of such a meeting. Aliyev then contradicted him with forensic detail. He said Azerbaijan itself only learned of the meeting from The Times, had its border service check the flight records, and confirmed the names: On July 12, on a flight from Berlin to Baku, two known persons arrived — the former head of the [Chancellor's] administration, Mr. [Ronald] Pofalla, and Mr. [Matthias] Platzeck. Coming from Moscow to Baku was the former Prime Minister of Russia, Mr. [Viktor] Zubkov, and the head of the civil society council, Mr. [Valery] Fadeyev. Our territory was used without our information for their meeting. These flight records give me the ability to say that a secret meeting took place in Baku.