Trying to normalize the relationship with the now Bolshevik government, a Sfatul Țării delegation visited Vladimir Lenin in Petrograd, explaining to him "the hard-hit fate of the people of Bessarabia, which is of Latin root, under the tsarist rule, when the centuries old traditions and customs, which are different from those of the Russian people, were being attacked, hit, and forbidden, and explained him the stage of the organization of Bessarabia." Lenin is said to have replied that he was aware of the situation in Bessarabia, and was satisfied that the people managed to elect a parliament in an orderly fashion based on democratic principles. He said "Do not waste your time here in Petrograd, go to Bessarabia and organize yourselves. You have all the right to self-determination, do everything that you consider is in the interest of the people, that is of the peasants".Halipa, Moraru, p. 76-77
