Vladimir Kokovtsov

Count Vladimir Nikolayevich Kokovtsov (Russian Коковцов, Владимир Николаевич; . * 18 Apriljul / April 30 1853greg in Ujesd Borowitschi, Novgorod province, . † January 29, 1943 in Paris) was a Russian statesman, finance minister from 1904 to 1914 and from 1911 to 1914, Prime Minister.

Life

As the son of a noble family born with lands in the province of Novgorod, Kokovtsov visited the Alexander Lyceum and the University of St. Petersburg, where he studied law. In 1873 he joined the civil service and worked until 1890 in the Ministry of Justice, initially in the statistical later in the legislative and finally in the criminal division. From 1879 he was deputy head of the Department prison supervision. In 1891 he was Secretary of the Department of Economic Affairs of the State Chancellery and 1896 Deputy Finance Minister Sergei Witte and closest collaborator. From 1902 to 1904 he was Head of the State Chancellery.

From February 1904 to February 1914 practiced Kokovtsov, with an interruption from November 1905 to May 1906, the Minister of Finance of the Russian Empire from. From 1905 to 1917 he was a member of the State Council. He managed the completion of a number of important foreign and domestic bonds. He pursued a strict austerity and introduced protective tariffs. His prudent reforms allowed a significant expansion of gold reserves. 1909 Kokovtsov was present when the Japanese Prime Minister Ito Hirobumi was assassinated in Harbin.

After the assassination of Pyotr Stolypin in September 1911 Kokovtsov was also entrusted with the office of prime minister, which he held until February 1914. He continued the reforms of Stolypin and foreign policy pursued a policy of narrow relation with France and balance with Germany. After the end of his tenure, he was elevated to the rank of count.

In 1917 he became a member of the Supervisory Board of the Russian Bank for Foreign Trade. After the February Revolution of 1917 he retired to his estates and moved to Kislovodsk later. After the October Revolution he was temporarily arrested by the Cheka, in November 1918, but he managed to emigrate to Finland, from where he traveled on to France. He was active in Parisian emigre circles and in 1923 chairman of the " Union of the followers of the commemoration of Tsar Nicholas II " in 1933, he published his memoirs about the time from 1903 until 1919.