Sébastiani persuaded the Ottomans to take a stand against Russia after bringing attention to the anti-Ottoman conspiracy in Wallachia, formed around Prince Constantine Ypsilantis, as well as to the suspicious policies of Moldavia's Prince Alexander Mourousis. According to the aristocratic Wallachian memoirist and politician Ion Ghica, Selim "followed the advice of General Sébastiani, who tried to bring him to Napoleon's side", and saw a connection between Ypsilantis and the Serbian Uprising: