 Germany requested that Russia must demobilise within the next twelve hours.In Saint Petersburg, at 7pm, with the German ultimatum to Russia expired, the German ambassador to Russia met with the Russian Foreign Minister Sergei Sazonov, asked three times if Russia would reconsider, and then with shaking hands, delivered the note accepting Russia's war challenge and declaring war on 1 August.On 6 August, Franz Joseph I of Austria signed the Austro Hungarian declaration of war on Russia.