Coat of Arms of the Russian Federation. Standard of the President of russian foreign minister 1908 Russian Federation. Emblem of the Federation Council of Russia. Emblem of the CEC of Russia.
Emblem of Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Russia. Coat of Arms of Russia 1577. State Emblem of the Soviet Union. Coat of arms of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic. The mid-1870s witnessed a series of violent rebellions against Ottoman rule in the Balkans, and equally violent and repressive responses from the Turks. The Russian Tsar, Alexander II, wanting to intervene against the Ottomans, sought and obtained an agreement with Austria-Hungary.
Shortly thereafter, the Russians declared war, and, after a few setbacks, drove the Turks relentlessly back to within a few miles of Constantinople. The treaty of San Stefano was overturned by the 1878 Treaty of Berlin. Under article 29, Austria-Hungary received special rights in the Ottoman Empire’s provinces of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Sanjak of Novi Pazar. The Sanjak of Novi Pazar separated Montenegro from Serbia and prevented the geographic and political union of these two states which were often closely aligned.
The Austrian occupation of the Sanjak was also significant because it provided Austria-Hungary with a staging area for possible future expansion towards the Aegean port of Salonika in Ottoman controlled Macedonia. In 1903 the King of Serbia was assassinated in a coup and the pro-Russian Karađorđević dynasty came to the throne. Power shifted to elements widely interested in expansion into Bosnia. These Serbs wanted to take over the Sanjak of Novi Pazar and Bosnia-Herzegovina from the Austro-Hungarians. By 1907, Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Alois Aehrenthal began formulating a plan to solidify Austria-Hungary’s position towards Serbia through annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina. On 2 July 1908, Russian Foreign Minister Alexander Izvolsky sent a letter to Austro-Hungarian Foreign Minister Alois Aehrenthal and proposed a discussion of reciprocal changes to the 1878 Treaty of Berlin in favour of the Russian interest in the Straits of Constantinople and Austro-Hungarian interests in the annexation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the Sanjak of Novi Pazar.
On 16 September, Izvolsky and Aehrenthal met face-to-face at Buchlau Castle. No minutes were taken during these private meetings, which lasted a total of six hours. Izvolsky accepted the responsibility to write up the conclusions of the meetings and forward them to Aehrenthal. By Aehrenthal’s account given by Albertini, Izvolsky agreed that Russia would maintain “a friendly and benevolent attitude” if Austria-Hungary were to annex Bosnia-Herzegovina. Reciprocally, should Russia move to open “the Straits to single ships of war”, Austria-Hungary would maintain a benevolent attitude. On 30 September, Austria-Hungary informed Izvolsky, who was in Paris at the time, that the annexation would take place on 7 October. On 4 October, Izvolsky prepared a report at the request of the British Ambassador to France, Francis Bertie.
