The European Union, Russia and the United States held secret talks in Turkey before Azerbaijan's attack on Nagorno-Karabakh. The information was published by Politico, citing its sources.

"The meeting marks a rare - though ultimately unsuccessful - contact between Moscow and the West on a major security issue after Putin's invasion of Ukraine in February 2022 upended conventional diplomacy," the article says.

The meeting was attended by Louis Bono, Washington's senior adviser for Caucasus negotiations, the EU was represented by Toivo Klaar, and Russia was represented by Igor Khovayev, Putin's special envoy for relations between Armenia and Azerbaijan.

The meeting took place on September 17 in Istanbul. The main topic of discussion was how to encourage Azerbaijan to end the long-running blockade of Nagorno-Karabakh and resume the passage of humanitarian convoys from Armenia.


The source said that the meeting focused on "how to get those damn trucks moving." The American official also said that the meeting was organized "because we understood that the Kremlin is still influential in this region, especially at this dangerous moment."