With the outbreak of the Russo-Turkish War in August 1787, Russian Empress Catherine the Great laid out her plans to incite revolts across Ottoman Greece. Proclamations calling the Greek clergy to lead a war of liberation against the Ottomans were printed in September 1787 and February 1788. In March, Admiral Samuel Greig and Major-General Ivan Zaborovsky were tasked with signing alliances and facilitating revolts among the Christian populations in Dalmatia, Albania and Greece. The Russian consulate in the Heptanese activated its network of sleeper agents who had originally been recruited before the Orlov revolt. Louitzis Sotiris and Himariot Panos Bitsilis begin recruiting soldiers in the area of Epirus, while Antonis Psaros and Lambros Katsonis built a small naval force in Italy. For the most part Russian plans did not materialize as the Baltic Fleet failed to reach the Mediterranean Sea. Without its assistance most of Russia's local allies refused to take part in the rising.