Gorchakov, Alexandr Mikhailovich (1798-1883)

Russian statesman and foreign minister 1856-82. He headed the Russian delegation at the Berlin Congress (see Berlin, Conference of ) and signed the Berlin Treaty in 1878.

He rejected the attempts by foreign powers to interfere in favour of the Poles during the Polish uprising of 1863; in the same year in a circular to European powers he justified the Russian advance in Central Asia by the need to protect each new frontier from raids by tribesmen, quoting the experience of Britain and the USA.