in Bessarabia. On the pretext of securing supply lines against raids by Bolsheviks and armed bandits, members of the Moldavian legislative council Sfatul Țării and the Entente Powers requested military assistance from Romania, and the Romanian Army crossed the republic's border on ; following several skirmishes with Moldovan and Bolshevik troops, the occupation of the whole region was completed in early March. The occupation of Bessarabia by the Romanians was not universally welcomed, and the members of the Bessarabian government denied that the Romanian troops had ever been invited to occupy the republic. After Ukraine issued its Fourth Universal, breaking ties with Bolshevik Russia and proclaiming a sovereign Ukrainian state, Sfatul Țării declared Bessarabia's independence on January 24, 1918, as the Moldavian Democratic Republic. Unification with Romania On March 5 [O.S. 20 February] 1918, in a secret agreement signed along the Treaty of Buftea, the German Empire allowed Romania to annex Bessarabia in exchange for free passage of German troops toward Ukraine. The county councils of Bălți, Soroca and Orhei were the earliest to ask for unification of the Moldavian Democratic Republic with the Kingdom of Romania, and on April 9 [O.S. March 27] 1918, in the presence of the Romanian Army, The Country Council, called "Sfatul Țării", voted in favour of the union, with the following conditions: The Country Council would undertake an agrarian reform, which the Romanian Government would accept. Bessarabia would remain autonomous, with its own diet, the Country Council, elected democratically The Country Council would vote for local budgets, control the councils of the zemstva and cities, and appoint the local administration Conscription would be done on a territorial basis Local laws and the form of administration could be changed only with the approval of local representatives The rights of minorities had to be respected Two Bessarabian representatives would be part of the Romanian government Bessarabia would send to the Romanian Parliament a number of representatives equal to the proportion of its population All elections must involve a direct, equal, secret, and universal vote Freedom of speech and of belief must be guaranteed in the constitution All individuals who had committed felonies for political reasons during the revolution would be amnestied. 86 deputies voted in support, three voted against and 36 abstained. The Romanian prime minister at the time, Alexandru Marghiloman, would later admit that the union was decided in Bucharest and Iași, the seats of