1. Alexander Protopopov was appointed interior minister with the support of Empress Alexandra during World War I, but his inexperience and mental instability failed to relieve the effects of the war on Russia and contributed to the decline of the imperial government.
Alexander Protopopov attended the select Nicholas Cavalry College as a cadet before being commissioned into the Horse Grenadier Regiment of the Imperial Guard.
At some point, Alexander Protopopov moved to Saint Petersburg where he became active in the financial community.
Alexander Protopopov was elected in 1907 as a member of the centralist Octobrist Party as a delegate to both the Third and Fourth Dumas.
In 1912, Alexander Protopopov was elected Marshal of Nobility of Karsunsky Uyezd.
In November 1913 or May 1914, Alexander Protopopov was appointed as vice-president of the Imperial Duma under Mikhail Rodzianko, serving as Deputy Speaker from 1914 to 1916.
In Spring 1916, at the request of Rodzianko, Protopopov led a delegation of Duma members with Pavel Milyukov to strengthen the ties with the Entente powers, Russia's western allies in World War I Protopopov met with the German industrialist and politician Hugo Stinnes, the banker Fritz M Warburg, and the Swedish Minister of Foreign Affairs Knut Wallenberg.
Alexander Protopopov faced a violently hostile reception from the pro-British Russian liberals upon his return from France and the United Kingdom, and in self-defence alleged that Warburg had initiated the talks.
Alexander Protopopov's secret contacts on peace and a swap between Russia and Germany became a scandal, which according to The New York Times was an indication of the rapprochement between the Russian and German Governments.
Alexander Protopopov was widely suspected of contacts with German diplomat Hellmuth Lucius von Stoedten.
On 20 July 1916, Alexander Protopopov formally met with Tsar Nicholas II who described him as "a man I like very much".
Alexander Protopopov had no bureaucratic experience and knew little of the police department.
Alexander Protopopov continued the reactionary policies of his predecessor, Boris Sturmer, with support from the empress.
Alexander Protopopov intended to suppress public organizations, especially Zemgor and the War Industry Committees, to win back the support of the business world, which he knew better than anything else.
In December 1916, Alexander Protopopov banned the zemstvos from meeting without police agents in attendance.
Early 1917 Alexander Protopopov, who excused himself many times and did not attend the meetings of the government; he suggested dissolution or postponing the Duma even further.
Alexander Protopopov was suffering from the effects of advanced syphilis, which made him physically weak and mentally unstable, and resulted in a mystical and deeply superstitious condition.
However, Alexander Protopopov ignored warnings from the tsar's secret police, the Okhrana, that the ill-disciplined and poorly trained troops of the Petrograd garrison were unreliable.
Pokrovsky reported about his negotiations with the Progressive Bloc led by Vasili Maklakov at the session of the Council of Ministers in the Mariinsky Palace, who spoke for the resignation of the government, but Alexander Protopopov refused to give up.
Not long after his apartment and office were sacked by demonstrators, and Alexander Protopopov took refuge at the Mariinsky Palace.
Alexander Protopopov was taken to the main hall, where the former cabinet ministers were surrounded by soldiers with fixed bayonets.
In prison, Alexander Protopopov prepared detailed affidavits concerning his period in office, but he was taken to a military hospital suffering from hallucinations.
On 27 October 1918, Alexander Protopopov was executed by the Cheka, with his execution order implying his mental state as healthy.