SCIENTISTS have confirmed that the remains of two bodies dug up in Russia last year belong to two children of Tsar Nicholas II, who was assassinated along with his family in 1918, bringing to a close one of the most intriguing chapters in 20th-century Russian history.
Until last year, the bodies of Crown Prince Alexei, the tsarevich, and Grand Duchess Maria were the only two remaining members of the Russian royal family still to be discovered.
"We received full confirmation that (the remains] do belong to the t
sar's children," Eduard Rossel, the governor of the Sverdlovsk region, said at a press briefing on Wednesday.
"We have now found the whole family," he said, adding that the forensic tests on their DNA were carried out in the United States.
The bodies of Alexei, who was 13 at the time of his death, and his sister Maria, 19, were recovered at a site near Yekaterinburg, the regional capital of Sverdlovsk, last summer.
Regional officials said at the time that the remains consisted of 44 fragments, lending credibility to the theory that they were the two missing Romanov children, murdered by the Bolsheviks along with the rest of their family in 1918.
Archaeologists also found seven teeth, three bullets and a fragment of clothing.
The Bolsheviks seized power in 1917 during the Russian Revolution and imprisoned the Imperial Family.
The following July, Bolshevik guards shot Tsar Nicholas, Empress Alexandra Fedorovna and their five children in Yekaterinburg on Lenin's orders.
For decades, the remains of the Romanovs were undiscovered. It was not until 1991 that a mass grave was uncovered near Yekaterinburg, containing nine bodies, five of which were believed to be the remains of the Romanov family. The other four were said to be servants and the family doctor.
DNA testing later confirmed that the remains were those of the Romanovs, although some scientists have questioned the conclusions.
The bodies of the tsar, the tsarina and three of their children – Anastasia, Olga and Tatiana – were given a state burial in the imperial crypt of the Saints Peter and Paul Cathedral in 1998.
But the absence of two of the family members led to speculation that they may have survived the executions.
One of the most intriguing mysteries surrounding the Romanov family was the fate of Anastasia, the tsar's youngest daughter. Rumours that she might have escaped in 1918 were further fuelled by eyewitness reports that secret police had made house and train searches for an Anastasia Romanov after the murders.
Decades later, the rumour gained currency after reports that two sets of remains were missing from the first mass grave.
Several people have come forward claiming to be Anastasia, including the late Anna Anderson, who asserted until her death in 1984 that she was the daughter of the last tsar. Subsequent DNA testing on Ms Anderson's tissue proved her claims to be false.
But experts warned that it was premature to accept the scientists' results as definitive. The US and Russian researchers have yet to make their final report, while parallel studies are being carried out in Innsbruck, Austria, and in a military institute in the US.
"There has been a lot of difficulty with these bones," said Peter Sarandaniki, the president and founder of Search, a US-based foundation dedicated to investigating the fates of the Romanov children. "Some of them were burnt… and work is still being done."
"We can't confirm (these results] until all the independent labs have completed testing," Mr Sarandaniki said.
The final results are expected to be made public late this month or early June.
"If positive, we will have determined that we have the remains of the royal family… and hopefully close a very sad chapter in Russian history," said Mr Sarandaniki.
The Russian Orthodox Church, which played down its role in the 1998 state burials, has refrained from recognising the findings as long as scientists are divided on the issue.
The discoveries last summer refuelled the debate among scientists and the Church over whether the bones found earlier are the genuine remains of the Romanov family. The Church has been cautious in accepting the latest findings, the preliminary conclusions of which were first made public in January. "I hope the Church will participate in the process (of confirming the identities] and give them the honourable burial they deserve," Mr Sarandaniki added.
A representative for Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna, the self-declared heir to Russia's throne, said she would not make a judgment on the authenticity of the new remains until the Church made its position clear.
Orthodox clerics in Yekaterinburg said they were not ready to make a decision on the remains. "The position of the head of… Grand Duchess Maria Vladimirovna is that the last word must be with the head of the Russian Orthodox Church," said Alexander Zakatov, the head of the chancellery of Russia's self-styled Imperial House.
He added: "It is essential to be very careful so that the results are understandable to the whole of society."
CROWN PRINCE DOOMED BY GENETIC CONDITIONTHE Tsarevich – the heir apparent – of Russia, Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov, was one of the more tragic figures of Russian history.
The youngest child and only son of Tsar Nicholas II, Alexei suffered from haemophilia, the genetic condition that impairs the body's ability to control blood clotting.
The disorder was widespread among European royalty descended from Queen Victoria – Alexei's great-grandmother.
In desperation to treat his illness, his mother turned to the religious mystic Grigori Rasputin, a move which some historians contend helped bring about the end of the Russian royal house.
In 1905, Alexei sustained a bruise after falling off a horse and suffered internal bleeding for days. Rasputin was summoned to help.
His prayers and advice seemed to work and Rasputin became a powerful influence over the Romanovs, to the extent that he regulated access to the Tsar himself.
Rasputin's influence over the royal family was used against him and the Romanovs by politicians and journalists who wanted to weaken the dynasty.
