Rasputin's death was a great tragedy for some, but most were happy that the hated adviser of the Tsar's court was finally gone. Who was responsible for his death? The conspiracy was born in the king's own family and among the people close to the king's court. Is it possible, then, that the British agents were barely caught?
conspiracy
Grigory Efimovich Rasputin was loved by some and truly hated by others. He inspired fear and loathing, but at the same time worship. His influence at the tsar's court eventually became almost unlimited, especially after the outbreak of World War I, when Tsar Nicholas II Romanov was preoccupied with court intrigues and domestic state politics.
Rasputin's personality was surrounded by a cloud of mystery. Little was known about its origins. Many did not understand (and still do not understand) how ironic it was that a simple, uneducated peasant gained such great influence over the royal family. It is therefore not surprising that Rasputin was attributed with contacts with dark forces, demons and Satan.
The attack that ultimately claimed his life was not the first. Rasputin was feared and early attempts were made to eliminate him, blaming him for all the troubles that Russia had recently experienced.
At the end of December 1916, a group of aristocrats organized a conspiracy against Rasputin. It was headed by Prince Felix Yusupov, heir to one of Russia's richest families and an Oxford graduate. In addition, the following people knew the story of the attack: “Grand Prince Dmitry Pavlovich – a half-orphan raised at the royal court and treated by Nicholas and Alexandra as their own son and a serious contender for the throne because of Alexei. disease. Vladimir Purishkevich – member of the Bessarabian Duma, founder of the Black Army and one of the most active activists. (G. Yanishevsky, “Cyanide, baton, bullet from Webley? Was Rasputin killed by the British?”). The plan seemed perfect, and Rasputin himself could not have expected anything.
The attack took place on the night of December 29-30, 1916. After that, Rasputin was invited to the Yusupov Palace, where Felix's wife Irina Alexandrovna was to be cured of her headache. A plate of cyanide-poisoned cookies had already been prepared on site. Wine was waiting nearby, also poisonous. Rasputin apparently ate a lot of cake and washed it down with three glasses of wine. Then – as prophesied – he must be dead. Unfortunately, with a slightly unsteady step, Rasputin just got up from the table and headed for the exit.
Yusupov did not know what to do. Then he took out a gun and shot Rasputin in the chest. It died. When the remaining assassins burst into the room a short time later, everyone was convinced that Rasputin was dead. They were mistaken, because after a while he opened his eyes, got up and ran outside screaming. Purishkevich followed Rasputin and shot him in the back and head. Then Rasputin fell to the ground. Of course, they started beating him with batons.
When Rasputin did not move for a few seconds, his body was tied up and thrown into a car. Purishkevich, Lazovert and Sukhotin brought Rasputin's body to the Piotrovsky Bridge and threw it into an ice hole on the Little Neva.
The bodies were found soon after. Some claim that Rasputin was still alive when he was thrown into the river, as evidenced by the fact that there was water in his lungs. Rasputin's funeral was held in Tsarskoe Selo and was attended by the royal family.
Rasputin's killers were quickly discovered. The king originally intended to punish them severely, but was persuaded not to. The attackers were only ordered to leave St. Petersburg.
British?
There are indications that British intelligence is behind the assassination of Rasputin. The British feared that Russia would sign a separatist peace with Germany, encouraged by Tsar Rasputin. Such a peace was not in the favor of the British, who wanted the entire anti-German coalition to fight together until Berlin finally capitulated.
Oswald Rainer, Prince Yusupov's friend from Oxford, may have been behind Rasputin's murder. During the First World War, Rainer was active in St. Petersburg and learned about the conspiracy to kill Rasputin from the conspirators themselves. There is a hypothesis that Rainer was in the Yusupov Palace at the time Rasputin was killed there. Perhaps it was she who fired the last, fatal shot that killed the king's lover. Was it really like that? It is hard to expect a foreign intelligence agent living in Russia to brag in many circles about his involvement in the murder of a loved one. Perhaps it was a relief that Yusupov and his comrades quickly admitted their “crime” and did not point to it. Oswald Rainer soon left Russia and died in 1961. He did not leave any information that would prove that he participated in the murder of Rasputin. However, this version of events is not impossible at all.
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(tags translated)rasputin