[1] A Kiev University graduate, Gradovsky contributed first to Kievsky Telegraf and Kievlyanin, later to Golos (where his popular Sunday feuilletons were published under the pseudonym Galin), Moskovskiye Vedomosti, Russkiy Mir and Molva.

Two books which collected his frontline reports and essays, The War in Asia Minor in 1877 (1878) and M.D.

[1] Another scandal was caused by his 1884 Voskhod-published essay "On the Jewish Question" (К еврейскому вопросу) in which he criticised the Russian government's repressive policy towards the Jews.

In 1895, alongside Nikolay Mikhaylovsky, Konstantin Arsenyev, Andrey Beketov, Vasily Bilbasov and Semyon Vengerov among others, he launched the campaign for freedom of speech and the liberalisation of the press legislation.

In 1896 he sent a personal letter to Konstantin Pobedonostsev, trying to make him see the necessity of establishing the principles of free press in Russia.