Council at Fili

The main sources of information about the council are the memoirs of Raevsky and Ermolov, as well as a letter from Nikolai Longinov to Semyon Vorontsov in London.

Barclay de Tolly proposed retreating to the Vladimirsky Tract and further to Nizhny Novgorod, so that in the event of Napoleon's turn to Petersburg, he would have time to block his path.

But if we save the army, the hopes of the Fatherland are not yet destroyed, and the war... can continue with convenience: the prepared troops will have time to join in different places outside Moscow".

Kutuzov, based on the minority opinion present, decided against engaging in battle from an unfavorable position and chose to abandon Moscow.

He echoed Barclay de Tolly's sentiment that "with the loss of Moscow, Russia is still not lost" to preserve the army for ongoing warfare and to move closer to available reserves.

This decision required significant courage due to the immense responsibility of surrendering the historical capital to the enemy, which could lead to his resignation as commander-in-chief.

At the end of the council, Kutuzov summoned the quartermaster-general Dmitry Lanskoy and ordered him to ensure the supply of food on the Ryazan road.

As part of the Cossacks continued to retreat to Ryazan, the French scouts were disoriented, and Napoleon for 9 days had no idea about the whereabouts of the Russian troops.