born Jan. 1, 1826, Tiflis, Russia
died Dec. 24, 1888, Nice, France
Russian military officer and statesman.
He commanded an army corps to notable victories in the Russo-Turkish War of 187778, for which he was made a count. As governor-general of the central Russian provinces (1879), he recommended administrative and economic reforms to alleviate social discontent. Impressed, Alexander II appointed him minister of the interior (1880) and approved his efforts to liberalize the Russian autocracy, but the tsar was assassinated before the reforms were enacted. Loris-Melikov resigned when Alexander III rejected his reforms.