Plehve, Vyacheslav Konstantinovich [key], 1846–1904, Russian public official. As director of the police (1881–84), vice minister of the interior (1884–99), secretary of state for Finnish affairs (1899–1902), and minister of the interior (1902–4), he consistently pursued an ultrareactionary policy. He subjected minorities to forced Russification, secretly organized Jewish pogroms, and allegedly helped precipitate the Russo-Japanese War in order to forestall revolution and win support for the autocracy. He was killed by a member of the Socialist Revolutionary party.
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