Conference of the Imperial Court

the highest state institution of Russia, formed in 1756 as a council under the empress Elizaveta Petrovna to decide foreign policy questions and direct military operations in the Seven Years’ War (1756–63). The Senate, the collegiums, and other central institutions were, in fact, subordinate to the conference in these matters.

Among the members of the conference of the Imperial Court were Chancellor A. P. Bestuzhev-Riumin and his brother, M. P. Bestuzhev-Riumin, N. lu. Trubetskoi, procurator-general of the Senate, Vice-Chancellor M. I. Vorontsov, and Senators M. M. Golitsyn and P. I. Shuvalov. Other members included A. I. Shuvalov, chief of the Secret Office, Field Marshals S. F. Apraksin and A. B. Buturlin, and Grand Duke Petr Fedorovich. The secretary of the conference was D. D. Volkov. The Conference of the Imperial Court was abolished when Peter III became emperor in 1762.