 Following several Soviet protests, on February 20/March 5, the Romanian prime minister, General Alexandru Averescu, signed a treaty with the Soviet representative in Odessa, Christian Rakovsky, which provided that Romanian troops be evacuated from Bessarabia in the following two months in exchange for the repatriation of Romanian POWs held by the Rumcherod.After the White Army forced the Soviets to withdraw from Odessa, and the German Empire agreed to the Romanian annexation of Bessarabia in a secret agreement (part of the Buftea Peace Treaty) on March 5/18, Romanian diplomacy repudiated the treaty, claiming the Soviets were unable to fulfil their obligations.On March 27/April 9, 1918, "Sfatul Țării" voted for the Union of Bessarabia with Romania, conditional upon the fulfilment of an agrarian reform.