I remind that the criminal case was opened in 1993, when the mass grave had been found in Yekaterinburg. A lot of tests confirmed then that the remains belonged to former Russian Emperor Nicholas II, members of his family and their attendants. Later, another set of remains was found not far from the first burial site. The tests showed that they belonged to Crown Prince Alexei Romanov and Grand Duchess Maria. This way, the investigators have had and have no doubts that all the remains found belonged to the royal family and their attendants.
The current reopened investigation is not an attempt to revise the previous evidence and facts, but is a mere necessity to run some additional tests of newly acquired facts requested by the Russian Orthodox Church. Therefore, the Interagency working group set up to investigate and bury the remains of Crown Prince Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria has given its consent to additional identification testing of the evidence previously unavailable for the investigators. Remains of Emperor Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna have been exhumed from the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Saint-Petersburg. Blood samples have been taken from the bloodstains on the uniform of Nicholas’s II grandfather – Emperor Alexander II, killed in a terrorist bombing in 1881, which is now kept in the Hermitage Museum. The Russian Orthodox Church asked to give part of the samples to its representatives for safekeeping.
It has to be noted, that the Investigative Committee involved renowned geneticists for investigation, they will be using the latest technologies and cutting-edge equipment to guarantee the maximum impartial results. The tests and investigative operations will be carried out in the shortest possible time.
Head of Media Relations V.I. Markin
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