Five years later, Kiselyov was appointed Chief of Staff of the Second Army, stationed in Tulchyn, Podolia. It was there that he first tried to implement his reforms, including the mitigation and condemnation of corporal punishment, which aroused the animosity of the powerful War Minister, Count Arakcheyev. Pavel Pestel and other Decembrists who formed the southern revolutionary league served under Kiselyov and were supported by him, although the extent to which their collusion was encouraged by Kiselyov's liberalism has been disputed.