2-481-405 - © Fine Art Images/Heritage Images

Count Sergei Yulyevich Witte, Russian Prime Minister, during his trip to USA, 1905. Russia's Minister of Finance from 1892-1903, Witte (1849-1915) promoted the construction of the Trans-Siberian Railway and the general modernisation of the Russian empire. In 1905 he represented Russia at the negotiations which ended the Russo-Japanese War, and after the political unrest of that year was appointed Russia's first Prime Minister when the Tsar agreed to the establishment of the Duma (parliament). In 1906, desiring a more conservative regime, Nicholas II replaced Witte as premier with Ivan Goremykin. Found in the collection of the State Museum of the Political History of Russia, St Petersburg.