7. The Russian military attache in Belgrade gave money to the head of Serbia’s military intelligence to finance the assassination
Before Archduke’s assassination, Danilo Ilić (an editor of a local Serb newspaper) attended the Serbian listening post in Užice to speak to Serbian Colonel C. A. Popović, a captain at the time. Ilić recommended an end to the period of revolutionary organization building and a move to direct action against Austria-Hungary. Popović passed Danilo Ilić on to Belgrade to discuss this matter with Chief of Serbian Military Intelligence Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević, known more commonly as Apis. While there are no reports as to what took place between Ilić and Apis, soon after the meeting, Apis’ right-hand man, Serbian Major Vojislav Tankosić, called a Serbian irredentist planning meeting in Toulouse, France. The meeting, held in January 1914 discussed possible Austria -Hungarian targets for assassination, including Franz Ferdinand. The first name identified was Oskar Potiorek, the Governor of Bosnia, and only Muhamed Mehmedbašić was dispatched to do the task in Sarajevo.
While traveling to Sarajevo, Mehmedbašić was delayed and couldn’t go forward with the plan. At this time, Illic took a report to Belgrade concerning Franz’s visit to Sarajevo. With that news, Belgrade scrapped the first mission to kill the governor in favor of the murder of Franz Ferdinand and ordered Mehmbedbašić to stand by for the new operation. The operation which was masterminded by Lieutenant-Colonel Dragutin Dimitrijević (confessed to the Serbian Court) and funded by the Russian Military attaché in Belgrade, Artamanov went as planned and resulted in the death of both Franz Ferdinand and his wife.