June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum
The June 1940 Soviet Ultimatum was issued by the Soviet Union to Romania, regarding Soviet territorial requests.On June 26 1940, without any previous negotiations, the Soviet Union in an ultimatum note to Romania asked for Bessarabia and northen part of Bukovina. Confronting with the rules of force imposed in Europe by Germany after theMunich Agreement (1938), Romania was constrained by Germany and Italy to give in.
In the secret appendix of 1939 Molotov-Ribbentrop Pact, the Soviet Union show "its interest" in Bessarabia, since Germany "declares its complete political disinteredness in these areas". In June 1940, just days before the Soviet ultimatum, France's surrender and Britain's retreat from Europe rendered meaningless their assurances to Romania.
The Soviet usesd its status of great power in a manner learned from German diplomacy of that time. The text of ultimatum note of June 26 began with the shameless lie that Bessarabia is populated mailnly by Ukrainians. The Soviet Government pretented the northern part of Bukovina, a province considered to be connected with Galicia, province that was annexed by Soviet Union in 1939, after Poland's defeat in war. The northern part of Bukovina was requested as a minor "reparation for the great loss produced to the Soviet Union and Bessarabia's population by 22 years of Romanian domination of Bessarabia". Initially, the Soviet Union had the intention to pretend the entire Bukovina and, by that, meet Germany's opposition due its major economic interest in Romania. The Soviet ultimatum note of June 27 requested Romanian government the Bessarabia and northern Bukovina evacuation in four days, starting from June 28.
On June 28, Romanian government lead by Gheorghe Tatarescu, under the rule of king Carol II, accepted to submit to the Soviet pretentions. The territory of those two provinces ceded were divided by Moldova and Ukraine.