Scientific Journal of the National Academy of Internal Affairs

The place of the Right Bank of Ukraine in the state and legal system of the Russian Empire and features of the activities of the tsarist administration in the given province are shown. It is emphasized that the Right-Bank Ukraine (South-Western Territory) was a region of acute Russian-Polish, Polish-Ukrainian confrontation and occupied a special place in the system of state power of the Russian Empire. It is noted that the creation of the Kiev Governor General was due to a number of circumstances related to the specifics of the development of this region, in particular, the continuation of the Polish-Lithuanian legislation, the polyethnic composition of the population, the lack of support from the local elite, the Catholic and Uniate churches. The activity of the Kiev governors-general, in particular, V. Levashov, D. Bibikov, is analyzed. t is noted that the institution of the governor-general during the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Acted as an instrument of power and occupied a special place in the system of public administration of the Russian Empire. The Governor-General and his chancery acted as active intermediaries in the relationship between the imperial center and the annexed territories. It was an effective form of government that combined legislative, administrative, military power, was authoritarian in nature and had the rights of administrative autonomy, which allowed to react quickly and effectively to unforeseen events. The process of formation and implementation of the national policies of the government of the Russian Empire in Right-bank Ukraine has been considered since its entry into Russia after the sections of the Commonwealth.