Moscow, July 19, 2018
The ongoing comprehensive examination on the remains possibly belonging to Tsar-Martyr Nicholas and his family has confirmed that the remains do indeed belong to them, said the official representative of the Russian Investigative Committee Svetlana Petrenko.
“At present, the findings of the committee’s complex of molecular-genetic examinations have confirmed that the remains found belong to the former Emperor Nicholas II, the members of his family, and members of their entourage,” Petrenko told Interfax-Religion on Monday.
The remains were compared to samples from the living relatives of the Romanov family on both the paternal and maternal sides, as well as to remains known to belong to other Romanov family members. As Petrenko noted, according to the molecular-genetic examinations, 7 of the 11 discovered remains correspond to a family group of father, mother, four daughters, and a son.
She noted in particular that the remains of Alexander III exhumed from Sts. Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg and those believed to belong to Tsar Nicholas were confirmed as belonging to a father-son pair.
A final procedural decision on the criminal case will be made after a few more examinations, the committee representative added.
A source from the interdepartmental working group on issues related to the study and burial of the remains of Tsarevich Alexei and Grand Duchess Maria, which were found separately from the other remains, also confirmed to Interfax-Religion that the remains undoubtedly belong to them.
The source added that not only were the remains of Tsar Alexander III and Tsar Nicholas II linked, but three generations, including Tsarevich Alexei, were linked genetically.
According to the source, the current study of the Investigative Committee has only confirmed what the interdepartmental working group found when remains were unearthed in 1991 and then in 2007.
Meanwhile, the Russian Church is waiting for all the examinations to be 100% completed. Then the Holy Synod will discuss the findings and then the matter will be placed on the agenda of the Council of Bishops of the Russian Orthodox Church.
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A grave with nine bodies was found on Staraya Koptyakovskaya Road near Ekaterinburg in July 1991. The remains were identified as those of Emperor Nicholas II, his 46-year-old wife Alexandra Fyodorovna, their daughters Olga, 22, Tatiana, 21, and Anastasia, 17, and their servants Eugene Botkin, 53, Anna Demidova, 40, Alexei Trupp, 62, and Ivan Kharitonov, 48.
Members of the imperial family were buried at a sepulcher of the Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg.
The remains of two more people were discovered during archaeological excavation works 70 meters south of the first grave on July 26, 2007. The remains have still not been buried, but numerous expert analyses indicate that the remains were most likely those of Tsarevich Alexei and his sister Maria.
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