Romanov rule over Russia. He had established himself in front of the seats which Rodzianko, after considerable difficulty, had secured for the Duma. According to Orlando Figes, "the members were to be seated at the back, far behind the places reserved for the state councilors and senators. This, he complained to the master of ceremonies, was 'not following the dignity' of the parliament." Rasputin considered Rodzianko a personal enemy. "Rodzianko told the Tsar in March 1913: 'A war will be joyfully welcomed and it will raise the government's prestige.'" In April 1915, Rodzyanko visited to the Russian troops occupying Austrian Galicia. On 11 August 1915, the day the Emperor announced he would take the Supreme Command from Grand Duke Nicholas, according to M. Nelipa, Rodzianko suffered a heart attack. Somehow Rodzianko participated in the creation of the Progressive Bloc. For Rodzianko, Alexei Khvostov had broken his neck in combating the Rasputin clique and Prime Minister Boris Stürmer would become a dictator with full powers early in 1916. In the Summer of 1916, there was another crisis in the government: Rodzianko proposed Alexander Protopopov to the Emperor and Protopopov hinted at Rodzianko as Premier and Foreign Minister. But after Protopopov had become Minister of the Interior and had expressed admiration for the ruling family, the Duma attacked him fiercely and called at once for his dismissal. Rodzianko demanded that the Empress be internally exiled to the Crimea until the end of the war. The Empress demanded in response that Rodzianko's court rank be taken from him; she referred to him in her letters as a scoundrel. Zinaida Yusupova, Alexandra's sister Elisabeth, Grand Duchess Victoria, and the Emperor's own mother tried to influence the Emperor or his stubborn wife to remove Rasputin, but without success. Rodzianko told Nicholas the truth, after being urged by the Emperor's mother and sisters. To him, the Empress Alexandra clearly should not have been allowed to interfere in state affairs until the end of the war; she treated her husband as if he were a little boy, quite incapable of taking care of himself. On 7 January 1917, Rodzianko told the Tsar in regard of his government, "All the best men have been removed or have retired. There remain [only] those of ill repute." February Revolution Mikhail Rodzianko was one of the key politicians during the Russian February Revolution. On 26 February Rodzianko urged the Tsar to