Who was governing Russia in Petrograd while Nicholas II was overseeing the military operations in 1916-1917? How was this viewed by the Russian people?

His wife, Alexandra Feodorovna, oversaw his affairs when he went to war. Her influence was greatly disapproved, because she advised in a man named Rasputin. He was a self-proclaimed Holy man who had "cured" her son of hemophilia. She thought he was sent from God. Therefore when her husband went to war, she followed his advice and the government became paralyzed with incapable officials. Grigory Rasputin was later murdered and the Romanov family was executed in July 1918.