Petr Shuvalov

Born June 15 (27), 1827, in St. Petersburg; died there Mar. 10 (22), 1889. Russian statesman and diplomat. Adjutant general; general of the cavalry. Member of the Council of State (1874). Count.

After graduating from the Corps of Pages, Shuvalov served in the guards cavalry. He became an adjutant to the minister of war in 1854 and fought in the defense of Sevastopol’. In 1857 he was appointed chief of police in St. Petersburg. Shuvalov was named director of a general affairs department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs in 1860 and chief of staff of the Corps of Gendarmes and director of the chancery of the Third Section in 1861.

In 1864, Shuvalov became governor-general of Livonia, Estonia, and Courland. He was made chief of the gendarmerie and head of the Third Section in 1866. His almost dictatorial power earned him the nickname “Peter IV.” Shuvalov was Emperor Alexander IPs closest adviser.

Shuvalov was a member of reactionary circles that advocated serfdom and was an opponent of bourgeois reforms. He served as ambassador in London from 1874 to 1879. On May 30, 1878, he and British foreign secretary Lord Salisbury signed the secret Anglo-Russian agreement that anticipated the principal determinations of the Berlin Congress of 1878.