Ignnatei Grinevitski, the son of a small landowner, was born in Grodno in 1857. After attending school in Byelostok he was admitted to the Technological Institute in Petersburg.

Grinevitski became involved in revolutionary politics and joined the People's Will in 1880. The following year he took part in the plot to kill Alexander II. Others involved in the plot included Sophia Perovskaya, Andrei Zhelyabov, Gesia Gelfman, Nikolai Sablin, Nikolai Kibalchich, Nikolai Rysakov and Timofei Mikhailov. Grinevitski threw the bomb that killed the Tsar on 1st March, 1881. He died shortly afterwards as a result of the wounds he received from the explosion.