Grigori Rasputin: Encyclopedia II - Grigori Rasputin - The latest forensic and historical evidence

Grigori Rasputin - The latest forensic and historical evidence

The details of the assassination given by Felix Yusupov have never stood up to close examination. The statement given to the Petrograd police on 16 December; the account he gave whilst in exile in the Crimea in 1917; his 1927 book, and the accounts given under oath to libel juries in 1934 and 1965. No two accounts were entirely identical. Until recently, lack of proof has ruled out any other credible evidence-based theories.

According to the unpublished 1916 autopsy report by Professor Kossorotov and subsequent reviews by Dr Vladimir Zharov in 1993 and Professor Derrick Pounder in 2004/5, no active poison was found in Rasputin's stomach. Neither did he drown, as the water found on his lungs is a common non-specific autopsy finding. All three agreed that Rasputin had been systematically beaten and attacked with a bladed weapon, but most importantly there were discrepencies regarding the number and calibre of handguns used.

This discovery may have significantly changed the whole premise and account of Rasputin's death. British intelligence reports between London and Petrograd in 1916 indicate that the British were extremely concerned about Rasputin's replacement of pro-British ministers in the Russian government, but more importantly his apparent insistence on withdrawing Russian troops from the First World War. This withdrawal would have allowed the Germans to move their Eastern Front troops to the Western Front, massively outnumbering the Allies and spelling almost certain victory. Whether this was actually Rasputin's intention is in dispute, but it is clear that the British viewed him as a real danger.

According to Professor Pounder, of the three shots fired into Rasputin's body, the third (which entered his forehead) was instantly fatal. This third shot also provides some intriguing evidence. In Pounder's view, concurred by the firearms department of the Imperial War Museum in London, the third shot was fired by a gun different to those responsible for the other two wounds. The "size and prominence of the abraded margin" suggested a large lead non-jacketed bullet. At that time, the majority of weapons used hard metal jacketed bullets, with Britain virtually alone in using lead unjacketed bullets for their officers' Webley revolvers. Pounder came to the conclusion that the bullet which caused the fatal shot was a Webley .455 inch unjacketed round, and was the best fit with the available forensic evidence.

Witnesses to the murder itself have stated that the only man present with a Webley revolver was one Lieutenant Oswald Rayner, a British officer attached to the SIS station in Petrograd. This account was further backed up during an audience between the British Ambassador, Sir George Buchanan, and Tsar Nicholas, when Nicholas stated that he suspected a young Englishman who had been an old school friend of Yusopov. Indeed, Rayner had known Yusopov at Oxford University. Another SIS officer in Petrograd at the time, Captain Stephen Alley, had actually been born in the Yusopov Palace in 1876, and both families had strong ties.

Confirmation that Rayner, along with another officer, Captain John Scale, met with Yusopov in the weeks leading up to the assassination can be found in the diary of their chauffeur, William Compton, who recorded all the visits. The last entry was the night before the murder. According to Compton, "it is a little known fact that Rasputin was shot not by a Russian but by an Englishman". He indicated that the culprit was a lawyer from the same part of the country as Compton himself. Rayner was indeed born some ten miles from Compton's hometown, and throughout his life described himself as a "barrister-at-law", despite never practicing.

Evidence that the assassination plan had not gone quite to plan is hinted at in a letter that Alley wrote to Scale eight days after the murder, saying "Although matters here have not proceeded entirely to plan, our objective has clearly been achieved... a few awkward questions have already been asked about wider involvement. Rayner is attending to loose ends and will no doubt brief you".

Upon his return to England, Oswald Rayner not only confided to his cousin, Rose Jones, that he had been present at Rasputin's murder, but also showed family members a bullet which he claimed he had acquired at the murder scene.

None of this is absolutely conclusive evidence of what happened that night of 16/17 December, but it provides a more logical evidence-based account of what occurred. Rayner burnt all his papers before he died in 1961, and his only son also passed away four years later.

Adapted from the Wikipedia article "The latest forensic and historical evidence", under the G.N U Free Docmentation License. Please also see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki