Russian Investigate Committee official Svetlana Petrenko confirmed that the remains found in Yekaterinburg in 1991 and 2007 are those of the Imperial Family, Nicholas II, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, their four daughters and their son.
“Comprehensive commission molecular and genetic tests have now confirmed that the remains belong to former Emperor Nicholas II, his family members and people close to them,” Petrenko told Interfax on Monday. “The genetic profiling of the bone remains and samples taken from relatives of the Romanov family who now live, both on the father’s and the mother’s lines, confirms that the remains belong to Nicholas II and his family members,” Petrenko said. “A final procedural decision will be made after two repeat commission medical (anthropological) and historical-archive forensic tests are completed in the criminal case.”
In 2015, samples were taken from the presumed skeletons of Nicholas II and Alexandra. as well as from the clothing of Emperor Alexander II. The Russian Orthodox Church set up a special commission to study the results of the new inquiry. In the event of a favourable conclusion of the investigation into the authenticity of the remains, the issue of recognising them as holy relics will be raised.
The Russian Orthodox Church will now analyse the findings of a new comprehensive expert examination of the human remains found outside Yekaterinburg, which has confirmed that they were those of members of the Russian imperial family. “We have taken notice of the news that a DNA examination confirmed that the remains found were those of former Emperor Nicholas II, members of his family, and people from their entourage,” Legoyda said. He thanked employees of the Russian Investigative Committee and experts for their “painstaking work and the atmosphere of openness and mutual understanding in which the expert studies have been conducted.”
Upon the completion of two repeated medical (anthropological), authorship, and historical-archival forensic studies on the criminal case which the Investigative Committee is undertaking, the findings will be shared with the Russian Church’s hierarchs “for further consideration,” he said.
