SIPYAGIN, DMITRY SERGEYEVICH

born March 20 [March 28, Old Style], 1853, Kiev, Ukraine, Russian Empire [now in Ukraine] died April 28 [April 15], 1902, St. Petersburg, Russia Sipyagin also spelled Sipiagin conservative Russian minister of the interior (190002), known for his absolute allegiance to autocracy. Sipyagin was born into a family of the old nobility and graduated from the University of St. Petersburg in 1876, after which he entered government service in the Ministry of the Interior. He served as governor of Courland province (188891) and of Moscow (189193) before returning to St. Petersburg as assistant minister of state domains (189394). Sipyagin was appointed minister of the interior in October 1899. Characterized by historians as a flamboyant reactionary, Sipyagin was a man of narrow views who had unquestioning faith in autocracy as the proper form of government for Russia. Indifferent to national problems, Sipyagin concentrated on administrative details and the management of local affairs while simultaneously trying to expand both his influence with Tsar Nicholas II and the authority of his department at the expense of his fellow ministers. He took an active role in suppressing student and labour political organizations and in obstructing the powers of the zemstvos (local rural assemblies). Sipyagin was assassinated by a 20-year-old Socialist Revolutionary student who entered the ministry disguised as an aide-de-camp of the tsar.