On July 20, 1914 French President Raymond Poincaré  and his Prime Minister René Viviani, arrive in St Petersburg for a Russo-French summit. In several days of talks, the matter of the assassination of the Austrian Arch Duke, 23 days before, and possible Austria-Hungary retribution against Serbia repeatedly comes up, worrying Poincare a good deal.  A carefully worded joint  démarche  — affirming ‘the perfect accord’ of French and Russian ‘views and intentions’ with regard to the maintenance of European equilibrium, ‘notably in the Balkans’ — is drafted to be sent to Vienna, in anticipation of the  démarche being rumored there, provocative in the extreme, to be delivered to Serbia.

The two — somewhat at odds with each other, as Viviani wants to steer wide of Russian entanglements in the Balkans and Poincaré thinks a closer embrace will dissuade Austria from border crossing belligerence– depart Russia and are enroute until July 29, one day after Austria-Hungary declares war on Serbia.