ABSTRACT

In the 1907, Benckendorff spent considerable time on discussions and correspondence with Russian and British authorities regarding Russian political emigrants wanted by the Russian government or arrested upon their return from Britain, as was the case with a veteran member of the terrorist organization Peoples Will, Nikolai Tchaikovsky. Benckendorff, Iswolsky, and, initially, their colleagues, considered that Russia gave up what she could not hold anyway. Benckendorff did not consider that in the foreseeable future Russia would require more of a stake in Central Asia than the convention allowed. As for the freedom of action for Russia, Iswolsky and Benckendorff seem to be alone among European statesmen who believed in it after 1907. Benckendorff, inspired by Sir Edward Grey, saw Persia only as a battlefield where German and entente interests clashed. During a crisis, Poklevsky told the Persian government that Russian troops would withdraw if the government offered safety guarantees to the Russian subjects.