page_title: Vladimir Purishkevich
section_title: Criticism of Rasputin
hierarchical_section_title: Vladimir Purishkevich / Criticism of Rasputin
caption_attribution_description: Русский: Антимонархическая листовка. Распутин, Николай II и Александра Фёдоровна
context_page_description: Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich was a right-wing politician in Imperial Russia, noted for his monarchist, ultra-nationalist, antisemitic and anticommunist views. Because of his restless behaviour, he was regarded as a loose cannon. At the end of 1916, he participated in the killing of Grigori Rasputin.
context_section_description: On 3 November 1916, Purishkevich went to Mogilev and talked with Tsar Nicolas II on Rasputin. On 19 November, Purishkevich gave a speech in the Duma and coined the phrase "ministerial leapfrog" to describe the seemingly continuous government reshuffles.
  He compared Rasputin with the False Dmitri. The monarchy was becoming discredited:
  The Tsar's ministers who have been turned into marionettes, marionettes whose threads have been taken firmly in hand by Rasputin and the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna—the evil genius of Russia and the Tsarina... who has remained a German on the Russian throne and alien to the country and its people.
  Purishkevich stated that Rasputin's influence over the Tsarina had made him a threat to the empire: "an obscure moujik shall govern Russia no longer!" "While Rasputin is alive, we cannot win".
caption: Rasputin and the Imperial couple. Anonymous caricature in 1916
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