the Congress of Berlin (1878). The Treaty of Berlin (July 1878), whose deliberations and decisions were greatly influenced by Austria-Hungary′s Gyula Andrássy, recognised Serbia's independence, yet left Serbia's ruling class disgruntled at Russia, who was seen as favouring the newly established Principality of Bulgaria at the expense of Serbia. In line with Andrássy's idea that Vienna, in order to neutralise inimical irredentist tendencies, should establish close legally binding ties with all her neighbours with whom she had ethnic connections, Austria-Hungary, which bordered Serbia to the north (modern Vojvodina), and the west (Bosnia and Herzegovina), sought to integrate Serbia economically by concluding a series of trade conventions with her and pressured Milan Obrenović to enter into a comprehensive bilateral political treaty. In June 1881, Serbian Prince Milan Obrenović and Austria-Hungary concluded a secret convention that effectively turned Serbia into Vienna′s client state. In turn, Russia in the 1880s intensified her courtship of Montenegro. Prince Nikola I of Montenegro was a regular visitor to Saint Petersburg and was awarded the Russian Empire's highest decoration by Alexander III in 1889. Serbia's People's Radical Party, which was founded by reputed Russophile Nikola Pašić in 1881 and gained parliament majority by 1891, sought to free the country of Austro-Hungarian dependence. Serbia was defeated in the war with Bulgaria in 1885, and the Bulgarian unification was internationally recognized. Meanwhile, tensions between Serbia and Austria-Hungary grew. Serbian pretensions in creating a South Slavic state (Yugoslavism as opposed to Austro-Slavism) put fear in Austria-Hungary of potential devastation of the Austro-Hungarian empire. On the other hand, Russia became increasingly disappointed in Bulgaria, where the rulers of the German dynasties, Alexander of Battenberg and from 1887 Ferdinand I, pursued policies that Russia opposed. The visit to Saint Petersburg of Austrian Emperor Franz Joseph and his conference with Nicholas II of Russia in 1897 heralded a secret agreement between the two empires to honour and seek to maintain the status quo in the Balkans, which was in line with Vienna's attempts to forestall an emergence of a large Slavic state in the region. The 1901 massacres of Serbs in Kosovo was instrumental in causing a diplomatic conflict between Austria-Hungary, which supported the Albanians, and Serbia, which was supported by Russia. Serbian King Alexander I was assassinated in a coup d'état in 1903, which ushered in the extinction of Obrenović dynasty and return of the Russophile Karađorđević dynasty: the new political regime