Alexander Protopopov

Life & Legacy

Alexander Dmitrievich Protopopov (Russian: Алекса́ндр Дми́триевич Протопо́пов; 30 December [O.S. 18 December] 1866 – 27 October 1918) was a Russian publicist and politician who served as the interior minister of the Russian Empire from September 1916 to February 1917.
Protopopov became a leading liberal politician in Russia after the Russian Revolution of 1905 and was elected to the State Duma with the Octobrist Party. Protopopov was appointed interior minister with the support of Empress Alexandra during World War I, but his inexperience and mental instability failed to relieve the effects of the war on Russia and contributed to the decline of the imperial government. Protopopov remained Minister of the Interior despite attempts to remove him for his policy failures, worsening mental state, and close relationship with Grigori Rasputin until he was forced to resign shortly before the February Revolution, and was later captured and killed by the Bolsheviks during the October Revolution.
According to Bernard Pares, Protopopov "was merely a political agent; but his intentions as to policy, considering the post which he held, are of historical interest."