His parents were Grigori Grigorovich Kushelev (1754-1833) and his wife Ljubov' Il'inična Bezborodko (1783-1809). He was strongly influenced by his aunt, princess Lobanov-Rostov. In 1813 he began studying at the
Tsarskoye Selo Lyceum. After graduating he left St Petersburg for
Tartu (where he met
Georg Friedrich Parrot) and Berlin (where he inspected the
University). He regularly kept his father informed of his findings by letter. He later returned to St Petersburg, where he was made a
chamberlain in 1820. He was elected an honorary member of the
Russian Academy of Sciences in 1830 and seven years later was made director of the Treasury Department. In 1844 he became a senator and three years later an honorary trustee. From 13 March 1854 to his death he was
Controller of State. He was buried in the
Alexander Nevsky Monastery. ==Marriage and issue==