Russian investigators have confirmed the authenticity of the bodies of Tsar Nicholas II and his family members on the eve of the 100th anniversary of their murder.
Bolshevik revolutionaries executed Nicholas II, his wife and their five children by firing squad in Yekaterinburg on July 17, 1918. Russian authorities relaunched a criminal probe into the murder in 2015.
Seven of the remains uncovered in the probe were confirmed as belonging to members of the executed Romanov family, Russia’s Investigative Committee said on Monday.
“Genetic examination results showed that seven of the 11 found remains correspond to the mother, father, four daughters and son of the family,” the committee said in an online statement.
The investigators said Nicholas II’s remains were identified by comparing them to the exhumed remains of his father, Tsar Alexander III.
DNA samples from the living descendants of the Romanov family were used to confirm the authenticity of the remaining bodies.
Along with the bodies of the royal family, investigators said the burial site may also contain the remains of four attendants, including a family physician.
In a recent survey published by the state-run VTsIOM pollster, a majority of respondents said they consider the shooting death of the tsar’s family a “monstrous and unjustified crime.”
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