One of the foremost Orientalists in all of Europe in the 19th century, Grigorev helped to organize the 3rd Congress of Orientalists in St. Petersburg in 1876. Working in Odessa, Orenburg, and Petersburg, he had antagonistic relations with a number of scholars. But a high profile figure, he pioneered in the study of Turkestan. Such a background also made him useful to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.