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Azerbaijan’s Aliyev to Skip EU Talks with Armenia, Angry with France

An Azerbaijani serviceman on patrol on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023, near Khankendi, Azerbaijan, also known as Stepanakert to Armenians. (AP)
An Azerbaijani serviceman on patrol on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023, near Khankendi, Azerbaijan, also known as Stepanakert to Armenians. (AP)
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Azerbaijan’s Aliyev to Skip EU Talks with Armenia, Angry with France

An Azerbaijani serviceman on patrol on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023, near Khankendi, Azerbaijan, also known as Stepanakert to Armenians. (AP)
An Azerbaijani serviceman on patrol on Tuesday, Oct. 3, 2023, near Khankendi, Azerbaijan, also known as Stepanakert to Armenians. (AP)

Ilham Aliyev, the president of Azerbaijan, has decided against attending an EU-brokered event in Spain where he could have held talks with Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan, Azerbaijani state media reported on Wednesday.

Aliyev had been considering taking part in a five-way meeting in Granada, Spain, on Thursday with the leaders of France, Germany, Armenia and EU Council President Charles Michel.

The five were due to discuss the future of the Nagorno-Karabakh region after Baku took back full control in a 24-hour military operation launched on Sept. 19, and to review the progress of long-running but troubled peace talks between Azerbaijan and Armenia.

Azerbaijan's state-run APA news agency, citing unnamed sources, said Aliyev had decided against attending however. There was no immediate official confirmation that Aliyev would not go.

APA said Aliyev had wanted Türkiye to be represented at the meeting, but that France and Germany had objected, and said that Baku felt "an anti-Azerbaijani atmosphere" had developed among the meeting's potential participants.

In particular, APA cited what it said was discontent in Baku around a statement made by Michel and what it regarded as "pro-Armenian statements" by French officials and France's decision, announced on Tuesday, to supply Yerevan with military equipment.

French Foreign Minister Catherine Colonna held talks with Armenia's Pashinyan in Yerevan on Tuesday, the first trip there by a Western government minister since Azerbaijani forces retook Karabakh.

Azerbaijan's foreign ministry issued a statement on Wednesday condemning what it said were unfounded comments by Colonna, who had voiced support for Armenia and its territorial integrity.

APA said that Azerbaijan would not attend any future talks that included France, but remained potentially open to possible three-way meetings with the EU and Armenia.

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Kremlin Says US Position Ruling Out NATO Membership for Ukraine Gives Satisfaction

Cars drive in front of Moscow's Kremlin along Tverskaya street in Moscow, Russia, 21 March 2025. (EPA)
Cars drive in front of Moscow's Kremlin along Tverskaya street in Moscow, Russia, 21 March 2025. (EPA)
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Kremlin Says US Position Ruling Out NATO Membership for Ukraine Gives Satisfaction

Cars drive in front of Moscow's Kremlin along Tverskaya street in Moscow, Russia, 21 March 2025. (EPA)
Cars drive in front of Moscow's Kremlin along Tverskaya street in Moscow, Russia, 21 March 2025. (EPA)

The Kremlin said on Monday that the position of US President Donald Trump's administration on ruling out NATO membership for Ukraine gave Moscow satisfaction, but declined to comment on Trump's hopes for a deal this week.
US envoy General Keith Kellogg said on Sunday that NATO membership was "off the table" for Ukraine. Trump has repeatedly said previous US support for Ukraine's bid to join NATO was a cause of the war, Reuters said.
"We have heard from Washington at various levels that Ukraine's membership in NATO is excluded," Kremlin spokesman Dmitry Peskov told reporters." Of course, this is something that causes our satisfaction and coincides with our position."
Peskov said that Ukrainian membership of the US-led alliance would "pose a threat to the national interests of the Russian Federation. And, in fact, this is one of the root causes of this conflict."
Putin has repeatedly said that Russia would be willing to end the war if Ukraine officially dropped its NATO ambitions and withdrew its troops from the entirety of the territory of four Ukrainian regions claimed and mostly controlled by Russia.
Reuters reported in November that
Putin was ready to negotiate a deal with Trump, but would refuse to make major territorial concessions and would insist Kyiv abandon ambitions to join NATO.
Trump said on Sunday he hopes Russia and Ukraine will make a deal this week to end the conflict in Ukraine.
Asked about those remarks, Peskov said: "I don't want to make any comments right now, especially about the time frame."
"President Putin and the Russian side remain open to seeking a peaceful settlement. We are continuing to work with the American side and, of course, we hope that this work will yield results," Peskov said.
He refused to comment directly on a Bloomberg report that the United States is prepared to recognise Russian control of Crimea as part of a broader peace agreement.
"Work on finding a peaceful settlement cannot take place, and should not take place, in public," Peskov said. "It should take place in an absolutely discrete mode."