Pyotr Sviatopolk-Mirsky

In 1900, Dmitry Sipyagin appointed Svyatopolk-Mirsky assistant Minister of the Interior and commander of the Imperial Corps of Gendarmes.

After Sipyagin's assassination in 1902, Svyatopolk-Mirsky resigned as assistant minister but was persuaded to accept the position of Governor-General of Vilna (modern-day Lithuania and Belarus).

His appointment was seen as a victory of Liberals over the Conservatives and in the Court term as a victory of the party of widow Empress Maria Fyodorovna (who supported the liberal reforms and was a patroness of Pyotr's sister Olga) over the party of Empress consort Alexandra Fyodorovna.

The remaining reforms were embodied in a decree that called for the inclusion of elected members to the State Council, removal of the restrictions on the Old Believers, measures to strengthen legality, extend freedom of the press and religion, broaden the authority of local self-government, eliminate unnecessary restrictions on non-Russians, and do away with exceptional laws in general.

Svyatopolk-Mirsky not only allowed the congress but also participated in its work and personally delivered its decision to Tsar Nicholas II along with his own plan for constitutional reforms.

As a retired Minister of Interior, he was expected to be appointed a member of the State Council of Imperial Russia, but it was not the case.