About 2.00 A.M. next day: Pourtalès asks to see Sazonov. He has a more positive message from Bethmann than the one delivered that afternoon warning that Russian mobilisation would compel Germany to mobilise.
Bethmann is trying to get a fresh formal assurance of Austria’s “désintéressement” in Serbian territory. Sazonov is still very doubtful about Vienna’s intentions so Pourtalès asks him to make his own proposal.
Sazonov suggests that if Vienna declares that because the dispute has taken on a European dimension it is “ready to eliminate from its ultimatum those points which infringe on Serbia’s sovereign rights” then “Russia agrees to suspend all military preparations”. [More]