Two weeks prior to the incident, Timofei Mikhailov volunteered to join the bomb-thrower unit to assassinate Tsar Alexander II, and was recruited by Andrei Zhelyabov. The group had observed that on Sundays, after the inspection of marine corps at Michael Manege, the Tsar would drive back to the Winter Palace. His route would be either by the Sadovaya Street or the Catherine Canal. The group had purchased a shop in the Sadovaya ostensibly for the sale of cheese, and used that as a cover to place dynamites under the street. If, on the other hand, the Tsar passed by the Canal, it was decided that the bomb-throwers were to be relied upon for the assassination.
