Nicholas II did not hold out for long before deciding to compromise. Keeping the Crimean Peninsula would preserve a shred of face, but its practical value was no longer great.
There was no longer any possibility of expanding toward the Mediterranean Sea. Retaining the Crimean Peninsula would only make Bulgaria more wary of the Russian Empire; they might even obstruct the Russian Empire's reunification out of fear that a strengthened Russia would one day clash with them.
Though the likelihood was small, he still had no intention of taking the risk. The urgent priority was to reunify the Russian Empire. To that end, Nicholas II would not hesitate to pay any price, no matter how great!
Upon receiving the telegram from Saint Petersburg, Sazonov let out a breath of relief, then sighed as well. This meant that the Russian Empire had begun to decline.
As a diplomat, he understood better than anyone that "a weak nation has no diplomacy." Now that the Russian Empire had declined, even if they reunified the entire country, the effects of the war meant that catching up with the world's advanced powers again would be far from easy!
Had it not been for the sound diplomatic relations between Bulgaria and Russia, Chekhov might not have personally met with him now, instead sending a deputy to negotiate.
This was also a universal rule in diplomacy: the principle of parity between nations. When countries of the same rank negotiated, the ranks of both sides' representatives should be as closely matched as possible.
When negotiating with a country a tier weaker, a powerful country would send a diplomat one rank lower. Yet in terms of the representatives' standing, the stronger nation still held an absolute advantage.
The negotiations began again. The dispute now was over the price. Sazonov