On the evening of February 27, the first meeting of the Petrograd Soviet of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies was held in the Tauride Palace. Most of the executive committee of the Council originally belonged to the Mensheviks and Socialist Revolutionaries. The leader of the Menshevik faction of the State Duma N. S. Chkheidze was elected chairman of the executive committee. The Socialist-Revolutionary A.F. Kerensky and the Menshevik M.I. Skobelev became the comrades (deputies) of the chairman.

The Executive Committee of 15 people included only 2 Bolsheviks - A. G. Shlyapnikov and P. A. Zalutsky. On March 1, 10 representatives from soldiers and sailors were elected from the executive committee of Petrosov. A united Council of Workers 'and Soldiers' Deputies was formed.

On the night of February 28, the creation of the Provisional Committee of the State Duma, elected on the eve of the members of the IV Duma, was officially announced. The Committee members were: M.V. Rodzianko (Chairman), P.N. Milyukov, A.I. Konovalov, N.V. Nekrasov, A.F. Kerensky, N.S. Chkheidze, V.V. Shulgin and other figures. On March 1, the executive committee of the Petrosoviet decided to grant the Provisional Committee the right to form a government. On March 2, the Provisional Government began its existence in Russia, which was the highest executive-administrative body, which also performed legislative functions.

The post of Minister-Chairman and Minister of the Interior was taken by Prince G. Ye. Lvov. PN Milyukov became Minister of Foreign Affairs, A. I. Guchkov became military and naval, N. V. Nekrasov, communications, A. Konovalov, commerce and industry, M. I. Terechchenko’s finances, A. A. Engels. Manuilov, A.I. Shingarev’s agriculture, A.F. Kerensky, Justice, V.N. Lvov, Chief Prosecutor of the Synod, I.V. Godnev, State Controller, F.I. Rodichev, Minister for Finnish Affairs.

Thus, as a result of the February-March events of 1917, a peculiar and extremely contradictory interweaving of the two authorities in Russia (sometimes referred to as “multi-authority” and even “non-authority”) that existed before the July days of 1917, the authorities of the Provisional Government -staff and Soviet authorities.

In March 1917, the head of the Russian government was a man who was completely unsuited for the performance of his duties. According to the manager of the affairs of the Provisional Government, V. D. Nabokov, P. N. Milyukov played an "active role" in the election of G. E. Lvov to the post of Minister-Chairman.

The choice was unsuccessful. Milyukov himself called the prime minister “a hat,” and Nabokov compared him with a man who sat on the goats but did not even try to “reins.” Simultaneously with the advancement of Lvov, Milyukov succeeded in practically eliminating M. V. Rodzyanko from the political arena, who claimed the key positions in the government.

Since its inception in the Petrograd Soviet, one of the main questions has become a soldier's question. Late in the evening of March 1, Order No. 1 of the Petrograd Soviet was worked out. The publication of the March 2 order meant the reorganization of the internal structure of the whole army.

The order introduced elected soldiers' committees in the army and navy and excluded returning to the former system of organization of the armed forces. The order emphasized the leading role of the Petrograd Soviet in the political speeches of the Soviet masses. He established new relations between soldiers and officers - it was forbidden to mistreat the lower ranks, to address them to "you." Outside of service and order, in their political, civil and private life, soldiers could not be infringed upon the rights that all citizens enjoyed.