These events unfolded in the context of a Polish–Russian civil war, which also rekindled Polish activities in Wallachia and Moldavia. In July 1863, the Bessarabian town of Coștangalia witnessed a skirmish between 400 Polish volunteers, recruited by Czajkowski and Zygmunt Miłkowski, and Romanian regulars, who had orders to stop their advance into Russia. After Miłkowski's subsequent arrest, Cuza's men speculated that the "Beizadea" had a part to play in the affair. The rumor was partly validated by Gorchacov, who spoke of Sturdza as leading a "common action of the Polish and Romanian revolutionaries." During November 1863, Sturdza and George Barbu Știrbei welcomed in Bucharest Panu, the chief of Moldavia's anti-Cuza movement, who was to supervise their "monstrous coalition". At around that time, a French diplomat, Pierre Baragnon, had contacted Miłkowski, prodding him to form a Polish Ottoman army that would depose Cuza and redivide the country, placing the "Beizadea" on the throne in Iași. Miłkowski dismissed the offer, later clarifying that he wanted no part in "dissolving the unity of Romania". The Panu group publicized a program which incorporated most of the "Red" agenda, endorsing decentralization, press freedoms, and an extension of voting rights with literacy tests; it also provided for a selective land reform with the full abolition of the "corvée".