 On April 18 Georgy Chicherin, the Soviet Commissar for Foreign Affairs, sent a note of protest against the incorporation of Bessarabia into Romania.In August 1916, the Entente and neutral Romania signed a secret Convention that stipulated Romania would join the war against the Central Powers in exchange for several territories of Austria-Hungary, among them, Bukovina.During the last part of World War I, national movements of the Romanians and the Ukrainians began to emerge in the province; however, the two movements had conflicting aims, each seeking to unite the province with their national state.