Birth of Mikhail N. Muravyov, Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire

7 (19) April 1845, in Moscow, was born Mikhail N. Muravyov, Russian statesman, Count, Chamberlain (1896), Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire (1897-1900). M. N. Muravyov was the grandson of the famous statesman, General of Infantry, Mikhail Nikolaevich Muravyev-Vilensky.

Muravyov studied in Poltava gymnasium, and then attended lectures at the University of Heidelberg in Germany. In the spring of 1864 he joined the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire. At first he was attached to the Russian mission in Berlin, and in the following decade was the secretary of the Russian mission in Stockholm (1866-1867), Stuttgart (1867-1869), Berlin (1869-1872), Karlsruhe (1872-1873), Paris (1873), the Hague (1874).

During the Russian-Turkish war of 1877-1878, Muravyov was at the command of the chief authorized person of the Society of care of sick and wounded soldiers at the headquarters of the Russian regular army, where, according to the command, had rendered many useful services. In 1880 he was appointed the first secretary of the Russian Embassy in Paris, and after almost ten years, he was appointed counselor of the embassy in Berlin. In 1893-1897 the officer performed the duties of envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary in Copenhagen.

In January 1897 Muravyov was appointed manager of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Empire, and in April the same year he became the head of the Foreign Ministry, succeeding the deceased Count A. B. Lobanov-Rostovsky. Shortly after his appointment to the ministerial post, upon the imperial order, Mikhail Nikolayevich was sent with an introductory visit France and Germany. In a detailed report on his visit to Paris, the minister stressed that his talks in the French capital were successful. Muravyov had spent two days in Paris and produced favorable impression on French political circles.

Meanwhile, military expenditures of all the great powers increased, and therefore there was a need for an international conference on peace. In August 1898 the Russian government addressed the European powers with a note on the reduction of armaments. This way Russia assumed to create more favorable international environment, especially for conducting policy in the Far East. In this situation a difficult state of the finances of the Russian Empire had also played its role, which made it impossible to effectively re-equip the army.

The Dutch government had agreed to organize the first peace conference, which was held in The Hague, in 1899. In a circular dispatch to the Russian representatives abroad, Count Muravyov wrote: "The Emperor gladly sees in the unanimous sympathy expressed by all governments that have agreed to a conference in The Hague - a new recipe for success aimed at the development in the public mind and life of all nations a fruitful beginning of world peace." The imperial rescript of the Emperor of Russia awarded the merits of Foreign Minister Muravyov in the preparation and conduct of the Hague Conference.

In foreign policy Muravyov was a supporter of the transfer of the center of Russian foreign policy from the Middle East to the Far East. In March, 1898 in Beijing, was signed the Russian-Chinese Convention, under which the Chinese government gave way to Russia to lease the ports of Lushun (Port Arthur) and Dalian (Dalny), and agreed to build the southern branch of the Chinese Eastern Railway (CER). In April next year, the Russian minister signed an agreement with Britain in the form of an exchange of notes on the division of spheres of influence in China. Taking advantage of the plight of England in connection with the Anglo-Boer War, the Russian minister with the approval of Emperor Nicholas II, stepped up the Russian policy in the Middle East, which resulted in the reestablishment of direct relations with Afghanistan, reinforcement of Russian positions in Iran and partly in Turkey.

Count Muravyov spared a lot of time to the work of the St. Petersburg General Archive of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. He was able to persuade the emperor to visit the archive, which happened in March 1900. It was the only time since the Empress Catherine the Great, when the Russian monarch has expressed interest in the activities of the divisions of the Ministry.

Under Muravyov’s leadership over Russian foreign policy, Russia's ties with other countries expanded significantly. In 1897, an official representative was sent to Abyssinia (Ethiopia); in 1898 the Consulate General was established in Morocco and a minister-resident was sent there; new consulates appeared in Iran; in Washington, the mission was transformed into the embassy. For his services Muravyov was awarded all the higher orders of Russia, up to and including the Order of the White Eagle.

8 (21) June 1900, Mikhail N. Muravyov died in St. Petersburg, on the 55th year of his life and was buried in the church of St. Gregory the Theologian, in the Holy Trinity of the Maritime Male Desert near St. Petersburg.

Lit.: Белецкий А. В. Открытие Музея графа М. Н. Муравьева. Вильна, 1901; Шилов Д. Н. Муравьёв Михаил Николаевич // Д. Н. Шилов. Государственные деятели Российской империи. СПб., 2002. С. 494—495.