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.

Alexander Dmitrievich Protopopov was born on 18 December 1866 in [Маресево, Лукояновский уезд, Нижегородская губерния], the son of a wealthy member of the local nobility who owned extensive land holdings and a textile factory.

Protopopov founded a newspaper Russkaya Volya ("The Will of Russia") which was financed by the banks and appointed Nikolay Gredeskul and Alexander Amfiteatrov as journalists.

[5] In Spring 1916, at the request of Rodzianko, Protopopov led a delegation of Duma members with Pavel Milyukov to strengthen the ties with the Entente powers, Russia's western allies in World War I.

[6] Protopopov met with the German industrialist and politician Hugo Stinnes, the banker Fritz M. Warburg, and the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Knut Wallenberg.

[7] Protopopov faced a violently hostile reception from the pro-British Russian liberals upon his return from France and the United Kingdom, and in self-defence alleged that Warburg had initiated the talks.

[8] Protopopov's secret contacts on peace and a swap between Russia and Germany became a scandal, which according to The New York Times was an indication of the rapprochement between the Russian and German Governments.

[10][11][12] In 1925, the Nazi journalist Theodor Fritsch rewrote the story, alleging Warburg had wrecked Imperial Germany, advanced the Communist cause, and changed the entire course of European history.

[14] Although impressed by Protopopov's charm, Nicholas was initially doubtful about his suitability for a position that included responsibility for police and food supplies at a time of instability and shortages.

With the tsar absent at the Stavka headquarters, the government of Russia appeared managed as a kind of personal concern between the empress, Grigori Rasputin and Protopopov, with the auxiliary assistance of Anna Vyrubova.

[19] When the Russian public learned Protopopov had visited the now-destitute and despised Sukhomlinov at his apartment, he was heavily criticized in the Duma and damaged the reputation of the government.

Protopopov intended to suppress public organizations, especially Zemgor and the War Industry Committees, to win back the support of the business world, which he knew better than anything else.

[25] "Protopopov felt that this organization was dominated by a revolutionary salaried staff and that in general the demand of opposition activists for a role in food-supply matters was meant to further political, and not practical, aims".

[32] Protopopov was suffering from the effects of advanced syphilis,[33] which made him physically weak and mentally unstable, and resulted in a mystical and deeply superstitious condition.

[36] Pokrovsky reported about his negotiations with the Progressive Bloc led by Vasili Maklakov at the session of the Council of Ministers in the Mariinsky Palace, who spoke for the resignation of the government, but Protopopov refused to give up.