Pavel Kiselyov

It was there that he first tried to implement his reforms, including the mitigation and condemnation of corporal punishment, which aroused the animosity of the powerful War Minister, Count Arakcheyev.

Back in Saint Petersburg in 1835, Kiselyov was admitted to the State Council of Imperial Russia and to the secret committees deliberating on effective ways to emancipate the serfs.

The same year, Kiselyov submitted to the tsar a comprehensive programme for reforms, which scared conservative landowners so much that the monarch had it laid to rest.

Nicholas's successor, Alexander II, dispatched Kiselyov to Paris in the capacity of Minister Plenipotentiary to deal with the effects of the Crimean War.

Kiselyov was married to Countess Sofia, Stanisław Szczęsny Potocki's daughter, but their only son died in infancy.

Count Pavel D. Kiselyov (portrait by Franz Krüger, 1851).
19th century lithograph depicting Count Pavel Dmitrievitch Kiselev as commander of the imperial Chevaliers-Gardes regiment (1806–1817).
Sofia Kisielew by Sir George Hayter in Paris, 1831 (Hermitage Museum)