were looking for a chance to change sides. The three Allied diplomats Știrbey negotiated with in Egypt were Lord Moyne, the British resident minister for the Middle East (a sort of junior foreign minister); Nikolai Vasilevich Novikov, the Soviet ambassador to Egypt; and Lincoln MacVeagh, the American ambassador to the Greek government-in-exile based in Egypt. During the meetings in Cairo, Știrbey spoke in French, the language he was most comfortable in speaking after his native Romanian, which put Novikov, who spoke very poor French at a disadvantage. The same day that Știrbey started negotiations in Cairo, the Red Army reached the Dniester river, putting him in a weak bargaining position as it was very clear that the Soviets was about to take back Bessarabia and northern Bukovina regardless if Romania signed an armistice or not. Știrbey stated that Antonescu knew the war was lost for the Axis side and if the Allies were unwilling to sign an armistice with a Romanian government headed by him, Maniu was willing to stage a coup in order to sign an armistice. Știrbey stated that the one non-negotiable condition for Romania to switch sides was that Allies had to promise that the northern part of Transylvania lost to Hungary under the Second Vienna Accord of 1940 be returned to Romania. Știrbey tried to press for Romania to retain Bessarabia and northern Bukovina, a condition that the Soviets rejected outright, saying there would be no armistice if the Romanians held out for that condition. The Soviet government took part in the meetings in Cairo and made it clear its skepticism about Știrbey's offer, but British and American diplomats were more inclined to take up his offer. On 16 April 1944, Știrbey reported that the Allies were willing to offer the following armistice terms: "Breaking with the Germans and after that Romanian troops to joint struggle with the Allied troops, including Red Army, against the Germans, in order to restore the independence and sovereignty of Romania." Restoring the "Soviet-Romanian frontier of 1940", ceding Bessarabia and northern Bukovina to the Soviet Union. Romania was to pay reparations to the Soviet Union for all of the damages done by Romanian troops inside the Soviet Union since 22 June 1941. Romania was to free all Allied POWs at once. Ensure that "Soviet and Allied troops could move freely in Romania in any direction, if this is required by the