Before 9.30 A.M.: After Ignatiev, the Russian Military Attaché, asks Messimy how to translate into military terms Viviani’s recommendation to Sazonov, Izvolsky wires Sazonov saying “the French Government has no intention of interfering in our military preparations but thinks it extremely desirable, in view of the further pursuance of negotiations for the preservation of peace, that these preparations should be of as little overt and provocative a character as possible”. [More]