Alexander Protopopov

Alexander Protopopov
Alexander Protopopov
Born	December 18, 1866 (1866-12-18) Simbirsk, Russian Empire
Died	October 27, 1918 (1918-10-28) (aged 51) Moscow, Russian SFSR
Occupation	Russian noble

Alexander Dmitriyevich Protopopov (Russian: Алекса́ндр Дми́триевич Протопо́пов; December 18, 1866 – October 27, 1918) was a liberal publicist, statesman and politician in Imperial Russia. He held the position of Minister of the Interior from September 1916 to February 1917. According to Bernard Pares "He was merely a political agent; but his intentions as to policy, considering the post which he held, are of historical interest."

Protopopov was the son of a wealthy member of the nobility who owned extensive land holdings and a textile factory. The younger Protopopov was born in Simbirsk, the home both of Alexander Kerensky and Vladimir Lenin. He attended the select Nickolaev Cavalry School as a cadet before being commissioned into the Horse Grenadier Regiment of the Imperial Guard. After leaving the army in 1889, Protopopov studied law. He then became a director of his father's textile plant. At some point he moved to St Petersburg where he became active in the financial community.

As a member of the centralist Octobrist Party Protopopov was elected in 1907 as a delegate to both the Third and Fourth Dumas. He was granted the rank of Marshal of Nobility of the Korsunsk Uezd (1912), and of Simbirsk Gubernia (1916). In the latter year Protopopov became also president of the Council of the Metal-Working Industry, controlled by banks dependent on German syndicates.

In November 1913 or May 1914 he was appointed as vice-president of the Imperial Duma under Mikhail Rodzianko. Protopopov served as Deputy Speaker from 1914 to 1916. He founded a newspaper (Russkaya Volya) The Will of Russia, which was financed by the banks, and appointed Nikolay Gredeskul and Alexander Amfiteatrov as journalists. According to Joseph T. Fuhrmann Protopopov was hospitalized from the end of 1915 for six full months in the clinic of Peter Badmayev. In Spring 1916, at the request of Rodzianko, Protopopov led a delegation of Duma members (with Pavel Milyukov) to strengthen the ties with Russia's western allies in World War I: the (Entente powers). He met with the German industrialist and politician Hugo Stinnes and Knut Wallenberg, the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs.