for the sykes-picot agreement to pass, britain and france needed to satisfy the russians. in exchange for the russian empire’s approval of the treaty, the russian foreign minister serkey saznov and the french ambassador maurice paléologue concluded the saznov-paléologue agreement in may 1916. they mutually agreed that the russian empire would get western armenia in addition to the already earlier attributed constantinople and the turkish straits. the kingdom of italy also knew about the agreement and was convinced by being promised southern anatolia in the st-jean-de-maurienne agreement in 1917.