Who was the Russian commander in chief during Napoleon's 1812 invasion?

Mikhail Kutuzov was the Russian commander in chief during Napoleon’s 1812 invasion of Russia. He was appointed supreme commander in August 1812 after the earlier retreat strategy of Michael Barclay de Tolly had become unpopular among Russian generals and soldiers.

Kutuzov inherited a difficult position: Napoleon’s multinational Grande Armée had crossed into Russia with hundreds of thousands of troops, while the Russian armies were retreating and trying to unite. Kutuzov accepted the need for a major defensive battle at Borodino, fought west of Moscow on 7 September 1812.

Although Borodino was enormously costly and did not produce a clear tactical Russian victory, Kutuzov preserved the army. At the council of Fili, he supported abandoning Moscow rather than risking its destruction and the army’s collapse. Napoleon eventually retreated through devastated territory, allowing Kutuzov’s strategy of endurance and attrition to prevail.

Barclay de Tolly was an important Russian commander and minister of war earlier in the campaign, while Alexander I was the tsar—not the field commander.