Pyotr Nikolayevich Durnovo
Pyotr Nikolaevich Durnovo was a Russian lawyer, administrator and politician. He was a member of the House of Durnovo. He was known by revolutionaries during the period of the Russian Revolution of 1905 as "the counter-revolution's butcher."
Biography
Pyotr Durnovo was born in Moscow Governorate to the noble Durnovo family in 1845.Durnovo began his career in the naval and military service, transferring in 1881 to the Police Department of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, and from 1884 to 1893 was that department's director. He went on to high posts in other parts of the same ministry, including a short term as its head. His principal position during the last decade of his was that of member of the State Council.
A graduate of the Naval Cadet Corps and the Alexander Military Law Academy, he served in the Ministry of Justice reaching the position of Assistant Procurator of the Kiev Court of Appeals, until transferring to the Ministry of the Interior in 1881. Durnovo was appointed Director of Police in 1884 and remained in that position until 1893 when he was forced to resign due to a disagreement between himself and the Spanish Ambassador to Russia involving the misuse of police powers. He was appointed to the Imperial Russian Governing Senate in 1893 where he distinguished himself. In 1900, he was appointed Assistant Minister of the Interior in charge of Posts and Telegraph services at the request of Sipiagin. He remained in this position until 1905 when he was appointed Minister of the Interior, on Witte's recommendation.
In his book on the Russian Revolution of 1905, the Bolshevik revolutionary Leon Trotsky describes Durnovo's appointment by Witte to the post in a very negative light, calling him the "counter-revolution's butcher."
Durnovo led campaigns against the freedom of the press during the 1905 Russian Revolution.
Immediately after the end of the final session of the Second Peasants' Congress of 1905, held in Moscow from 6–12 November, Durnovo, intent on crushing the resistance of the revolutionaries, issued orders for killing resisters.
He retired from the position of minister shortly after Witte's resignation from the Chairmanship of the Council of Ministers despite earlier differences between the two.