Because information regarding the existence and the activities of the Filiki Eteria had leaked to the Ottoman authorities, Ypsilantis hastened the outbreak of the revolt in Wallachia and participated personally in it. Beginning the revolution in the Danubian Principalities had the added benefit that they, being autonomous under the joint suzerainty of Russia and the Ottoman Empire, did not have Ottoman garrisons, while in turn the local leaders were entitled to maintain small armed retinues for their own protection. Legally, the Ottomans could not move their forces into Wallachia or Moldavia without Russia's permission, and if the Ottomans sent their forces in unilaterally, Russia might go to war.[4] The hospodar (governor) of Moldavia, Michael Soutsos was a Phanariot Greek who was secretly a member of the Philiki Eteria, but at the same time however, Soutsos was an opportunist who hedged his bets by secretly informing the Sublime Porte of the planned invasion.[4] Therefore, on 22 February 1821 (O.S.) or 25 March (N.S), accompanied by several other Greek officers in Russian service, Ypsilantis crossed the Prut river at Sculeni into the Principalities.