A heart-to-heart conversations with the Tsesarevich Alexei. Oleg Filatov
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through generations. He included into his thesis materials of investigations of our family as compared with the remains of the Ekaterinburg burial and who were writing then a doctoral thesis on the theme “Identification of an individual by jugular vertebrae and thorax construction”). We met in the faculty office. After meeting us, Popov, V.L. acquainted himself with the documents and photographs. “Where have you been? Maybe, we ought not to have opened the tomb of Georgy Alexandrovich Romanov.” Looking at us and at the photos he said: “Yes, the jaws are tapered like those of the Romanovs.” I must tell, that our family has long paid attention to the similarity of the daughters of our father, my sisters – Olga, Irina and Nadezhda, as well as women members of the Romanov family – Empress Maria Feodorovna (mother of Nicholas II), Grand Duchess Ksenia Alexandrovna (sister of Nicholas II) and Empress Alexandra Feodorovna (wife of Nicholas II). As well as the similarities between my and the emperors of the house of Romanov – Alexander II, Alexander III and Nicholas II. Such obvious similarity both on female, and on a male line between the whole generation of our family, and members of the Romanov family deserves serious attention.
Professor Popov relates the results of his research:
“On September 9, 1994, my colleague Kovalyov and I met with the children of Vasily Filatov: Oleg, Olga, and Irina, who believe their father may very well have been the Tsarevich Alexei. Their opinions are based on their father s erudition and level of education and cultivation, and the stories he told them while they were growing up that correspond to the content and chronology of prerevolutionary events and the facts that are now known about the fate of the last Romanovs. Vasily Filatov never told his children directly about his origins and always evaded direct questions on this subject. He spent his last years in Astrakhan, where he died in 1988. He asked that his ashes be left where they were laid to rest and told his children to move to St. Petersburg. After their father s death, they honored his request.
The children have declared their desire to get closer to the truth and were prepared to have their father s body exhumed and to conduct and finance the identification research, but they had to have samples from known Romanovs for comparison. Who would agree to give them fragments of the remains from the burial site in Ekaterinburg?
Who of the surviving Romanov relatives would donate blood for genetic analysis? [Given the extensive bank of genetic information existing on the Romanovs, the authors do not believe this is necessary.] Their appeals to the government commission have yet to receive a reply; hence their logical decision to seek independent experts. Russian, American, and British specialists were already taking part in the investigation, so they decided to seek additional assistance from forensic medical experts in Germany and Finland, who offered to conduct genetic research to prove or disprove the genetic kinship between the Filatov`s and the Romanovs. Clearly, only comparative genetic research on the biological tissues of their father and the Romanov remains from Ekaterinburg, or the blood of surviving Romanov descendants, could provide scientific proof.
The German scientists suggested that the Filatov`s donate blood for genetic research. But what could a comparison of the blood of the children of the purported heir (a male heir, not a female!) with the results of the British analysis yield? Success was doubtful, since hereditary genetic information is transmitted along the female line. Therefore, it became necessary to conduct a genetic study of the remains of their father, Vasily Filatov”.
My sister Olga Vasilyevna suggested that the scientists work in cooperation with the German scientists from the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Heine University of Düsseldorf, since there has been an agreement with the German scientists on the anthropological and genetic studies. Professor Popov and Assistant professor Kovalev A.V. agreed and wrote a letter on behalf of the Faculty of Forensic Medicine of the Military Medical Academy. That same day the letter was sent to Germany. The reply was positive, and in November 1994 our family left for Germany. The Russian scientists were not allowed to leave Russia on the pretext of inexpediency.
Before our trip our Mother donated her blood. The investigation was aimed at extracting Father’s DNA from our blood without studies of his biological material. This had to be done because the Prosecutor General’s Office in the person of prosecutor-criminalist Solovyev, V.N. refused to accept our attempt to identify Filatov, Vasily Ksenofontovich as Alexei Nikolayevich Romanov, the son of Nikolas II, the last Russian Emperor. On making an agreement with Mr. W. Bonte, Director of the Institute of Forensic Medicine, Heine University of Düsseldorf, Germany, also President of the International association of forensic medical experts, our family invited the Russian geneticist Ivanov, Pavel. The prosecutor-criminalist of the Prosecutor General’s Office Mr. Solovyev, V.N. had been informed about this.
However, the geneticist P. Ivanov did not come to the meeting, though the German side had paid for his ticket and insurance. Mr. Ivanov sent a fax to Professor Bonte saying that he could not come because his passport did not pass the customs examination. Everybody was bewildered by this fact.
Professor Bonte, the anthropologist Dr. Alt, the geneticist Wolfgang Huckenbeck took part in the meeting. Having examined the family’s photographs Mr. Alt decided to begin investigations. My sisters Olga, Irina, Nadezhda and I donated blood and put the documents in order.
We decided not to announce any information till the examinations were completed. At the same time the stomatological status was examined at the Military Medical Academy and X-rays of the skulls of our family were compared with the results of studies of the remains found near Ekaterinburg.
It should be mentioned that Professor Balin, V.N. (MMA), Professor Cheremisin (MMA), Professor Popov, V.L., Candidate of Medicine Kovalev, A.V. (MMA), Professor Trezubov, (of the St.-Petersburg Medical University) have been drawn into X-ray investigations of the stomatological status, of the skulls and jugular vertebrae.
The scientists began working together, and three families of Filatov`s (the families of Oleg, Olga, and Irina) underwent clinical examination of their teeth and the mucous membrane of the mouth. Plaster casts were taken to determine their stomatological status, X – rays were taken of their jaws, skulls, rib cages, and spines, and samples were obtained for genetic and fingerprint testing.
The scientists, based on the research that was completed, were able to reach the following conclusion:
In studying the frontal and lateral X – rays of the cervical section of the spines of Oleg, Olga, and Irina, which was carried out within the framework of the expert forensic medical analysis into the death of members of the House of Romanov in 1918 – 1920, fourteen similar individual structural features were discovered that indicate, in our opinion, genetic kinship between the individuals studied Independent research conducted at the Institute of Forensic Medicine at Heinrich Heine University using DNA analysis also confirmed the results we obtained. Thus, the results of the research show that blood relatives display a similarity of anatomical structure in the cervical section of the spine.
These results have major practical significance, since they allow us to establish, either independently or combined with the methods of genetic analysis, genetic kinship between the individuals investigated
Perfectly clear, that genetic research is only a part, albeit a substantial one, of identification studies. A comprehensive proposal to establish the identity between Alexei Nikolaevich Romanov and Vasily Ksenofontovich Filatov was drawn up in 1996 by Professor Vadim Petrovich Petrov, who holds a doctorate in medicine too. He began work on the project, and his son – Vadim Vadimirovich Petrov, who also holds an advanced degree in medicine and is continuing his studies at the Legal Scientific Research Center of the St. Petersburg University Law School – continued it after his death. The scientific research was conducted by Leonard Nikolayevich Gavrilov, a legal scholar, and Vadim Petrov. Some results of analyses are set forth here.
The scientific identification of an individual requires comparative materials from the same time for each of the people whose identity is being established. These materials can be photographs of the face (head), stomatological diagrams, X – rays of various parts of the body, molds of the jaws and teeth, handwriting samples,