On 5th of December 2008 a Research-to-Practice conference on the topic “Examination of the Remains of the Romanov Family: Epilogue” took place in Yekaterinburg. In the course of the conference fifteen reports on the history of investigation into the matter about murdering of the Emperor’s family and their servants in Yekaterinburg in summer 1918 were listened to. In my opinion the most concise and knowledge-intensive reports were those of the anthropologist, Doctor of Medicine, Professor Zvyagin Viktor Nikolayevich and of geneticists - Doctor of Biological Sciences, Professor Rogayev Yevgeniy Ivanovich and medical examiner Trynova Elena Gennadyevna. These reports were devoted to results of the examination of the remains found in the bonfire site near Koptyaki road in 2007 and to the extraction of genetic code of Nicholas II from the traces of blood on his shirt kept in the Hermitage. Unfortunately in the reports of geneticists there was no answer to the question about results of their attempts to discover the gene of haemophilia in the bone remains that presumably belonged to Tsarevich Alexey. The climax of the conference was demonstration of the perfect coincidence between the genetic DNA profile that Trynova E.D. got from the traces of blood on the shirt of Nicholas II and genetic DNA profile of the bone tissue of the skeleton ¹4 extracted by Doctor of Biological Sciences Michael Coble in Armed Forces DNA Identification Laboratory in the USA. In fact the conference was in a way a report of anthropologists and geneticists about the work they have done during the last year. In a number of reports speakers accented the necessity of continuation of archaeological work in the area of old Koptyaki road as the bonfire site found in 2007 cannot be considered the place of burning two bodies because of the paltry quantity of ash mass and bone remains. Despite the fact that in the conference announcement summing up of the historical examination of the documents was declared, to the great disappointment of the conference participants Director of the State Archive of the Russian Federation (further SA RF), Doctor of Historical Sciences S.V. Mironenko did not present the report about results of the historical examination carried out this year under his supervision. It should be noted that participation of historians in the conference was more than modest. Historical researches were presented by two reports. The worker of the Russian State Archive of Socio-Political History (RGASPI), Doctor of Historical Sciences Lykova Lyudmila Anatolyevna reported about discordance between material of the preliminary investigation of the Supreme Ruler’s administration and the conclusions of investigator Sokolov N.A. published in his book “Murder of the Imperial Family”. Senior Scientist at the Institute of History and Archeology of Ural Branch of RAS, Candidate of Historical Sciences Yevgeniy Anatolyevich Kurlaev made a supplementary report about results of the scientific expedition for locating and studying the second whereabouts of the human remains nearby old Koptyaki road in 2007. These reports were obviously insufficient for summing up the investigation, still to everyone’s surprise Senior Special Cases Investigator at the Main Investigations Directorate of the Investigative Committee under the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation Solovyev V.N. at the final press conference declared his intention to close the case till 15th of January 2009.
In connection with this announcement a whole range of problems arises.
The first problem is the destiny of the remains today lying somewhere near Koptyaki road. Who and when will search for them? What fate awaits them if they will be found by “black diggers” and not by amateur-searchers like Avdonin and Ryabov? By the end of summer 2009 already we will have a real opportunity to see sale offers for relics of saint passion bearers Alexei and Maria in the Internet. Isn’t it vandalism blessed by the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office.
The second problem is inseparably connected with the first one. Without these remains not exposed to fire geneticists will not be able to discover the gene of haemophilia that would unambiguously confirm that the remains belonged to Tsarevich.
The third problem is a so-called “Historical examination” - on the eve of the 90th anniversary of the imperial family murder Director of the SA RF Mironenko S.V. and representatives of the Prosecutor General's Office made a lot of statements in the mass media about fulfillment of this examination. I have to upset the authors of these statements because their reference to nowadays well-known recollections of the participants of shooting and burial of the victims cannot be considered historical arguments. Even written memoirs and stenography of speech of the chief executor Yurovskiy cannot be accepted as an investigation document. They are only memoirs. Original documents are kept in the archive of the All-Russian Extraordinary Commission-Federal Security Service in the personal files of chekists Yurovskiy, Nikulin, Avdeev, Goloshchyokin and others connected with the events that took place in Yekaterinburg in July 1918. These files from archive should not be substituted for the party personal files of the mentioned people. Some representatives of the historical science make statements that these files are classified and scientists will never have access to them. Let me disagree with such an opinion. Because if it is really like this then the investigation of the Prosecutor General's Office is transformed to amateurishness or at best to a journalist investigation. In view of this a question arises: “Why was the supervision of the historical examination assigned to the Director of the SA RF Mironenko S.V. but not to Academician Sakharov heading the Institute of Russian History of RAS?” This Institute has much more scientific experience and opportunities than SA RF does. I want to remind once again that according to the preliminary investigation materials twelve people were shot in the Ipatyev house, eleven bodies were taken to the Koptyaki forest and at the re-burial there were thirteen of them.
The forth problem is genetic identification of the remains of Doctor Botkin and servants that died with the imperial family. Still the remains of the twelfth victim of the shooting, kitchen attendant Terechov have not been found and also the bodies of soldiers that refused to carry out the criminal order. At the same time the Investigative Committee has not presented to the Supreme Court the documents recognizing these people as victims of political repressions.
The fifth problem is connected with studying and analyzing the documents of Anastasia Chaykovskaya. She is also Anna Anderson and Anastasia Manahan. A well-financed and promoted in 1927 journalist fake that Anastasia Chaykovskaya is a Polish factory worker Franziska Shanzkovskaya was completely disproved during hearings in the Supreme Court of FRG at the end of the sixties. The results of the genetic examination (99.9%) of 1994 appeared to be of such kind that every thousandth woman can be considered Franziska Shanzkovskaya. However in Russian criminal science there is a method of person identification based on person’s appearance, it was developed by Professor of the Leningrad State University, Doctor of Juridical Science Pavel Petrovich Cvetkov. In his article “About criminalistic analysis of person’s appearance” (the journal “Pravovedenie” – 1972, ¹2 p. 121-127) he wrote “Taking into the account that person’s identification is carried out by analyzing from the common through the specific to the single, it would be correct to differentiate elements and features of person’s appearance as common (appropriate to any person), specific (appropriate not to everyone) and unique (single – belonging to practically one person)”.
Identifying Anastasia Chaykovskaya with Princess Anastasia Romanovà by anatomic and functional features we get the following picture of coincidences.
Common features: age, height, hair color, foot size, pace, bearing, gesticulation, facial expression, manner.
Specific features (specific marks): three scars from childhood traumas and operation coinciding in location, size and form. These are scars on the forehead, finger and under left shoulder-blade.
Unique features: very rare orthopedic disease of feet (congenital hallux valgus), ear conch structure (the decision of court expert of FRG Moritz Furthmayer).
According to the conclusions of Professor Cvetkov P.P. “The complex of common, specific and unique features forms the identity of the specific person’s appearance” and the list of features mentioned above proves that the youngest daughter of Nicholas II survived after the shooting in the Ipatyev house. This conclusion can be disproved only after studying the documents kept in state archives of Russia and abroad. I want to repeat once again that today not only addresses of the archives are known but also the numbers of foundations where the documents proving Anastasia’s identity are kept.
Until the mentioned above problems are not solved putting a question on termination of the investigation into the matter about murdering of the Emperor’s family and their servants is a crime. I strongly hope that leaders of the Investigative Committee of the Prosecutor General's Office of the Russian Federation understand this, that’s why the epilogue has to be postponed.
Vladimir Momot.
Yekaterinburg. December 2008.
Translated by Anna Koksharova.