The Russian Council of Ministers is an executive governmental council that brings together the principal officers of the Executive Branch of the Russian government. This includes the chairman of the government and ministers of federal government departments. Imperial Russia Committee of Ministers The Ministries and the Committee of Ministers (Комитет Министров) were created in the early 19th century as part of the Government reform of Alexander I. The Committee was an advisory board for the Emperor but could only consider matters referred to it by the monarch or when details for implementation of policy were brought to it by ministers. However, the Committee had little collective power and did not make decisions, just recommendations. When the monarch presided personally over Committee meetings it was referred to as a council as the monarch had decision/policy making authority that the committee did not possess. Chairmen of the committee of Ministers (de facto), 1802 – 1810 Alexander Romanovich Vorontsov (1802–1804) as Imperial Chancellor and Foreign Minister Adam Jerzy Czartoryski (1804–1806) as Foreign Minister Andreas Eberhard von Budberg (1806–1807) as Foreign Minister Nikolay Petrovich Rumyantsev (1807–1810) as Foreign Minister Chairmen of the committee of Ministers, 1810 – 1905 Nikolay Petrovich Rumyantsev (1810–1812) Nikolay Ivanovich Saltykov (1812–1816) Pyotr Vasilyevich Lopukhin (1816–1827) Viktor Pavlovich Kochubey (1827–1834) Nikolay Nikolayevich Novosiltsev (1834–1838) Illarion Illarionovich Vasilchikov (1838–1847) Vasily Vasilyevich Levashov (1847–1848) Aleksandr Ivanovich Chernyshov (1848–1856) Aleksey Fyodorovich Orlov (1856–1861) Dmitry Nikolayevich Bludov (1861–1864) Pavel Pavlovich Gagarin (1865–1872) Nikolay Pavlovich Ignatyev (1872–1879) Pyotr Aleksandrovich Valuyev (1879–1881) Michael von Reutern (1881–1887) Nikolai Karl Paul von Bunge (1887–1895) Ivan Nikolayevich Durnovo (1895–1903) Sergei Yulyevich Witte (1903–1905) Council of Ministers After Nicholas II issued the October Manifesto of 1905 granting civil liberties and a national legislature (Duma and a reformed State Council), the Committee was replaced with a Council of Ministers. Unlike the Committee of Ministers, this council was presided over by a Chairman (Совет министров) besides the Emperor, and functioned as a policy making cabinet with its Chairman acting as Prime Minister (head) of the government. As a result, from 1905-1917 the Council of Ministers collectively decided the government's policy, tactical direction, and served as a buffer between the Emperor and the national legislature. The meetings of the Council were in two parts, "official and secret". The first followed a printed agenda; the second was devoted to the discussion of confidential questions, basic issues of policy and so forth. Sergei Yulyevich Witte