Russell, as the leader of the Whig Party, then brought it into a new coalition government with the Peelite Conservatives, headed by the Peelite Lord Aberdeen.
When the Ottomans gave way to Louis Bonaparte's demands, Russia strongly objected and on 7 May 1853 one of Russia's leading statesmen, Prince Alexander Sergeyevich Menshikov, arrived in Turkey to demand an agreement favourable to Russia.