During these hours, on the night of December 16-17, old style, Grigory Rasputin was killed in St. Petersburg. Both contemporaries and historians have broken many copies around this name. But we cannot lose sight of one fact - the death of Rasputin and the abdication of Nicholas II, and the further death of him and his family turn out to be mystically connected in time, moreover, this is exactly what Rasputin himself predicted to the emperor and empress: “As long as I am alive, I will be with you.” "Nothing will happen to everyone and nothing will happen to the dynasty. If I don’t exist, in six months you won’t either."
Therefore, the death of Rasputin in our history is the most important episode in which it would be necessary to put an end to it.
A lot has been written about the murder of Rasputin by his murderers themselves, none of whom were punished. It is common knowledge that there were five murderers. Prince Felix Yusupov, Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich Romanov, State Duma deputy Vadim Mitrofanovich Purishkevich, and also on hand Dr. Stanislav Sergeevich Lazorvert (photo from LJ http://baronet65.livejournal.com)
And a certain lieutenant Sergei Mikhailovich Sukhotin. Both Purishkevich and Yusupov, who were bursting with self-importance, wrote memoirs in which they each appropriated the laurels of Rasputin’s killers to themselves, and Yusupov repeated almost word for word what Purishkevich wrote. In addition, the then French Ambassador to Russia, Maurice Paleologue, wrote well about the murder and Rasputin, whose book I recommend to everyone.
Yusupov graduated from Oxford and was, let’s say, of non-traditional sexual orientation. This fact is undeniable; moreover, Rasputin himself undertook to cure him of his demonic behavior. From the Protocol of the investigation in the case of F.F. Yusupov “Grishka treated like this: he laid the victim out on the threshold of the room and flogged him with a belt until our Dorian Gray begged for mercy.” From there the words of Rasputin, spoken to the prince, reached us: “We will completely improve you, you just need to go to the gypsies, there you will see pretty women, and the disease will completely go away.” Historian N. M. Romanov, who knew the secrets of high society, wrote: “I am convinced that there were some physical outpourings of friendship in the form of kisses, mutual groping and perhaps... even more cynical. How great was Felix’s carnal perversion is still little clear to me, although rumors about his lusts were widespread.” In 1914, he married the niece of Nicholas II and “reformed.”
Here is what Yusupov and Purishkevich wrote about the actual murder:
Aim. The battle. Shot. Recoil at the elbow. Past.
- What the hell! I don't recognize myself...
Rasputin was already at the gate facing the street.
The shot missed again. “Or is he really under a spell?”
Purishkevich painfully bit his left hand to concentrate. The sound of a shot - right in the back. Rasputin raised his hands above himself and stopped, looking at the sky, showered with diamonds.
“Calm down,” Purishkevich said not to him, but to himself. Another shot - right in the head. Rasputin spun like a top in the snow, shook his head sharply, as if he had climbed out of the water after swimming, and at the same time sank lower and lower.
Finally he fell heavily into the snow, but still continued to jerk his head. Purishkevich, running up to him, hit Grishka in the temple with the toe of his boot. Rasputin scraped the frozen crust, trying to crawl to the gate, and terribly gnashed his teeth. Purishkevich did not leave him until he died
In addition, there were cakes and wine poisoned with cyanide, which had no effect.
But now I ask everyone to look at the photograph of the dead Rasputin. 
There is a gaping hole in the forehead from the control shot to the head, after which there could be no more crawling. No cyanide was found in the stomach or blood. This convincingly proves that Purishkevich and Yusupov were lying. Here is the examination testimony
“During the autopsy, very numerous injuries were found, many of which were inflicted posthumously. The entire right side of the head was crushed and flattened due to the bruise of the corpse when it fell from the bridge. Death resulted from heavy bleeding due to a gunshot wound to the stomach. The shot was fired, in my opinion, almost point-blank, from left to right, through the stomach and liver, with the latter being fragmented in the right half. The bleeding was very profuse. The corpse also had a gunshot wound in the back, in the spine, with a crushed right kidney, and another wound point-blank, in the forehead, probably to someone who was already dying or deceased. Thoracic organs were intact and examined superficially, but there were no signs of death from drowning. The lungs were not distended, and there was no water or foamy fluid in the airways. Rasputin was thrown into the water already dead.”
- Conclusion of the forensic expert Professor D.N. KosorotovaThe Empress organized the most thorough investigation, and quite quickly a completely unexpected English trace appeared in the case. Tsar Nicholas II directly mentioned that the killer was Yusupov's school friend. However February revolution they put an end to the investigation, and then Kerensky ordered Rasputin’s corpse to be dug up and burned. But in 2004, in Great Britain, the truth about the English roots of Rasputin’s murder surfaced. How did a simple Russian man hinder the British? The fact is that he was a categorical opponent of the war with Germany. Using his influence on the empress and emperor, Rasputin could tell the tsar not to fight or, later, make peace. And what’s surprising is that Rasputin was seriously stabbed with a knife on June 29, 1914, and less than a month later the war had already begun. Here's the full story about English version as presented by Nikolai Starikov under the cut
Grigory Rasputin was killed by a control shot in the forehead by the British spy Oswald Rayner. It was his name that was hidden by Yusupov, Romanov and Purishkevich, who became a blind tool in the hands of the English secret service. October 1, 2004 to English TV channel BBC 2's Timewatch program showed a film dedicated to the murder of Rasputin. Retired Scotland Yard employee Richard Cullen and historian Andrew Cook, based on photographs of the corpse, autopsy reports, documents and memoirs of that time, reliably reconstructed the picture of the murder. And when they did this, it immediately became clear that the existing version of the murder of Grigory Rasputin was deliberately falsified. Yes, Yusupov and Purishkevich both shot at Rasputin.
However, it was the English agent who fired the third, control shot in the forehead of Grigory Rasputin.
Oswald Rayner, the figure in this case is by no means new: he is repeatedly mentioned in the memoirs of Felix Yusupov. The day after the murder, the prince writes, he dined with Reiner, who “knew about the conspiracy and came to find out the news.” And Yusupov’s memoirs themselves, published in 1927, were written in collaboration with Reiner. If you look at title page, you will see that it was translated into English by... Reiner. Thus, the co-author of Felix Yusupov’s “true” memoirs was British intelligence itself! Should we then be surprised at the “strange” discrepancies and the prince’s amazing forgetfulness? Reiner and his leaders had absolutely no use for the truth. After all, he was a lieutenant in British intelligence, the Secret Intelligence Bureau, as it was then called. In addition to him, according to the authors of the film, those involved in the murder were senior officers of the British intelligence service: captains John Scale and Stephen Alley.
How did the valiant British, after so many years, learn about the old operation of their own intelligence services? By chance. Collecting materials about another knight Queen of England, Sidney Reilly (we'll talk about him in detail a little later), Andrew Cook interviewed the 91-year-old daughter of John Scale, who lives in Scotland. She showed him many other documents that indicated that her father was not only aware of, but also involved in the elimination of Rasputin.
Among the documents was a list of agents in Petrograd, where Reiner’s name appeared. Interested in this, the British historian tracked down Oswald Rayner's nephew. He said that his uncle, before his death, told that he was in Yusupov’s palace on the night of the murder. He also had a ring made from the bullet he said was fired at Rasputin. This was further confirmation of Rayner's participation in the conspiracy. Scale's daughter and Rayner's nephew lived in different parts of the UK and did not even know about each other's existence. However, their stories coincided in the smallest details. After this, Richard Cullen and Andrew Cook realized that they had managed to uncover a long-standing secret of the British intelligence service.
At the beginning of 2004, they spent several weeks in St. Petersburg to thoroughly study the circumstances of Rasputin’s murder on the spot. Kalen, being a criminologist, focused on official medical documents about the death of Rasputin and post-mortem photographs of the body and crime scene. In this he was helped by the famous St. Petersburg forensic expert Vladimir Zharov, who ten years ago undertook his own investigation of the crime, but was never able to make it public.
Behavior is also indicative English Ambassador George Buchanan. At a reception in honor of the New Year, he spoke to the Russian emperor: “... Since I heard that His Majesty suspected a young Englishman, a school friend of Prince Felix Yusupov, of complicity in the murder of Rasputin, I took the opportunity to convince him that such suspicions were absolutely groundless.”
Let's think about it. A British official is trying to convince Tsar Nicholas that it was not an English bullet that hit Rasputin in the forehead, based on rumors!
Taking this step, Buchanan gives himself away completely. When the ambassador makes statements using the expression “I heard.” After all, this is not just an Englishman speaking to the Russian autocrat, this is a representative of the British monarch speaking. You never know what rumors are circulating in the Russian capital, the ambassador cannot, has no right to respond to them.
Were Yusupov and any of the other killers British agents? Most likely not. But there are many facts about the life of Rasputin’s killers, where one way or another the English line intersects with the line of their fate. It is enough to trace the fate of the main characters who were related to the “Rasputin” affairs, and this strange fact will become absolutely obvious.
Through “prophecies” and “healings” Grigory Efimovich Rasputin (1869-1916), providing assistance to the hemophiliac heir to the throne, gained the unlimited trust of Empress Alexandra Feodorovna and Emperor Nicholas II. Rasputin was an unusual personality, possessed of a keen mind, the ability to suggest, and possibly medical abilities. His supporters considered Rasputin an Orthodox ascetic, an “old man,” while his opponents considered him a rogue and a swindler. For the liberal opposition, Rasputin was a symbol of the degradation of the autocracy, corruption in the autocrat’s circle, and superstition royal family, who believed in the elder’s abilities for providence and communication with God. The liberal press spread rumors about Rasputin's trickery and depraved character. The agitation against him seriously compromised the monarchy.
All layers of society were hostile towards Rasputin, even representatives of opposing sides. political parties on the issue of too much and negative impact Rasputin found a common language on the actions of Nicholas II.
In November 1916, deputy Vladimir Purishkevich said at a meeting State Duma a passionate speech against Rasputin, which included the words: “The dark man should not rule Russia any longer!” All Duma deputies warmly supported him. Then the plan to kill Rasputin was born. The initiator of the conspiracy was Prince Felix Yusupov, married to the Tsar’s niece, he was joined by Vladimir Purishkevich and several other people, including Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich ( cousin Nicholas II).
By this time Purishkevich was already at the front. Yusupov was exiled to his estate in the Kursk province, and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich was sent to serve in Persia.
Almost 90 years after the death of Rasputin, two British researchers - retired Scotland Yard investigator Richard Cullen and historian Andrew Cook, having conducted their own investigation, came to the conclusion that British citizen Oswald Rayner, an agent of the British Secret Intelligence Bureau, was involved in the murder of the "old man" - that was the name then of the department now known as
Secret intelligence service, or MI6. Britain feared that Rasputin, using his influence on Nicholas II and his wife, would persuade the sovereign to conclude a separate peace with Germany. While studying the post-mortem photographs of the “old man,” their attention was drawn to the bullet hole in the center of his forehead. This shot was made by a professional shooter and, moreover, with close range. Yusupov aimed at Rasputin’s heart, and Purishkevich shot him in the back in the yard. Based on the results of the ballistic examination, it became clear that three bullet holes different sizes were made by three different bullets fired from three different types weapons. This gave rise to the conclusion that there was a third killer, and he was supposedly none other than Yusupov’s friend Oswald Reiner, who was in the palace and led the operation to eliminate Rasputin.
The book by British intelligence historian Michael Smith, “Six: The History of the British Secret Intelligence Service,” published in 2010, also refutes the traditional version of the murder of Rasputin, based on the memoirs of Prince Yusupov and Purishkevich. As Smith writes in his book, Oswald Reiner was in Yusupov’s house and participated in the torture of Rasputin, trying to extract information from him about negotiations with Germany, which in fact were not conducted. Having achieved nothing, Yusupov and Purishkevich shot at Rasputin. However, the final—and fatal—shot was fired by Oswald Rayner.
Rayner himself never publicly. Before the end of the war, he left Russia and in 1920 worked as a correspondent for the British newspaper The Daily Telegraph in Finland. Towards the end of life former agent burned all the papers and took the secret of Rasputin's death with him to the grave.
The material was prepared based on information from RIA Novosti and open sources
On December 17, 1916 (old style), Grigory Rasputin fell at the hands of assassins. He was killed as a result of a conspiracy headed not by Felix Yusupov or State Duma deputy Purishkevich, but by British intelligence agent Oswald Rainer.
The purpose of the liquidation of Rasputin was to prevent the possibility of concluding a separate peace between Russia and Germany, for which Grigory Rasputin was actually the only and last possibility.
“If Rasputin had not been killed, the revolution of 1917 would not have happened?”
Why did the empress love the elder and who did he cross paths with?
One of the most interesting characters XX century - Grigory Rasputin. The date of his birth is not reliably known - between 1864 - 1872, more often called 1869, early January. But they killed him exactly in 1916. 2011 marks the 95th anniversary of the death of Rasputin.
How a man stopped the war
Big on the agenda European politics At the beginning of the 20th century, there was a question of organizing the First World War, or, more accurately, a large-scale German-Russian clash. It began in 1914, but it could have started earlier. The powder keg in the Balkans had already been laid. All that was left was to set it on fire and put Russia and Germany on top of it. The price of the issue is no less than domination over the whole world.
And suddenly an illiterate Siberian man stood in the way.
In 1912, when Russia was ready to intervene for the first time Balkan conflict, Rasputin begged Nicholas on his knees not to join the war. Count Witte wrote in his memoirs: “He (Rasputin) indicated all the disastrous results of the European fire, and the arrows of history turned differently. War was averted."
Why didn’t Nicholas II listen to Rasputin in 1914?
Because at the moment of making this fatal decision, Rasputin was dying!
Black PR
On June 15 (28), the Austrian heir was killed in Sarajevo; two weeks later, on June 30 (July 13), 1914, Rasputin almost lost his life in his native Siberian village.
The difference of two weeks between the two attempts is not accidental. Political situation does not heat up immediately, from the moment of the assassination of Franz Ferdinand until the beginning of the First World War the war will pass month and three days.
In that decisive moment Rasputin must be dead so that he could not stop Nicholas II from taking a disastrous step. There was a misfire, Rasputin was not killed, but he is still near death, unconscious. Only just before the beginning of the world conflict, barely coming to his senses, the elder sends telegrams, begging the sovereign not to start a war, because with the war there will be an end to Russia and to themselves (the reigning persons): “They will put it down to the last man.”
But it was too late - Russia was dragged into the war.
The campaign to discredit Rasputin was not accidental and purposeful. Perhaps this is one of the first cases of “black PR” on this scale. Tatyana Botkina, the daughter of a life physician who was shot with the royal family, conveys in her memoirs the words of her father: “If Rasputin had not existed, then the opponents of the royal family and the preparers of the revolution would have created him with their conversations from Vyrubova, if there had not been Vyrubova, from me, from whom Want".
"Blue" Prince
To the question of who was the main organizer of the murder, historiography gives an unequivocal answer - Prince Felix Yusupov. This 27-year-old graduate of Oxford University was the heir to a noble and wealthy family.
He describes his thoughts like this: “After all my meetings with Rasputin, everything I saw and heard, I was finally convinced that all the evil and main reason all the misfortunes of Russia: there will be no Rasputin, there will not be that satanic force into whose hands the sovereign and empress fell...”
The Empress was grateful to the healer Rasputin, who saved the hemophiliac heir from fatal bleeding.
The well-mannered, handsome Felix had one small oddity: he loved to wear women's clothing. Since childhood, Prince Yusupov dressed up in dresses at home; at the age of twenty, he openly visited public places, restaurants and theaters not only in Russia, but also abroad.
Once in Paris, at the theater, Felix saw that “an elderly person from the literary box was persistently lorning me.” This man turned out to be English monarch Edward VII... After such success with the first Don Juan of Europe, the young aristocrat returned to his homeland inspired and decided to perform on the stage of a fashionable St. Petersburg cabaret. In a woman's dress, of course.
“Beauty” Felix performed in front of the public in a chiton made of blue tulle embroidered with silver thread. At the same time, the costume was decorated big amount large family diamonds. Friends of Felix’s parents recognized the performing “cabaret star” from them. The prince's father was furious, but, gradually cooling down, he decided to treat his son for such strange inclinations. The parents sent the fetishist and homosexual to improve his health to... Rasputin.
The treatment Felix underwent consisted of the elder placing him across the threshold of the room, flogging him and hypnotizing him. Agree that Yusupov’s experience of communicating with Rasputin was, frankly speaking, specific.
I don’t know if Rasputin’s treatment helped or if Prince Yusupov simply came to his senses, only in 1914 did he put aside skirts and crinolines and marry the daughter of Grand Duke Alexander Mikhailovich Romanov, combining the crowned surname with his truly untold wealth. Prince Yusupov's wife Irina was the granddaughter of the late emperor Alexandra III and Emperor Nicholas II was the niece.
This is our first conspirator - married to the Tsar's niece, a rich, eccentric transvestite and homosexual. It is hard to believe that such a person could calmly calculate the murder of Rasputin. But such a subject could easily be directed in the right direction.
Dear friend
The second of the conspirators is Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich Romanov. His mother died in childbirth. He had been friends with Felix Yusupov for a long time. Judging by the descriptions of his contemporaries, Dmitry Pavlovich was a frivolous and good-natured creature. He knew about Rasputin’s enormous role in the family of Nicholas II, that he saved the life of Tsarevich Alexei. But this did not bother the young Grand Duke.
In gratitude for the care and affection of the royal family, Dmitry Pavlovich takes part in a conspiracy to kill himself loved one his “mom” and the main adviser to his “dad”. Only such a person could repay the royal family for their kindness in this way. His friend Felix is more important to him. Because Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich was also a homosexual. And Felix Yusupov, who loves women's clothing, was more than just a friend to him...
Young Dmitry Pavlovich also has a motive for hating Rasputin. The king and queen are thinking of marrying him to one of their daughters. Rasputin opens their eyes to the sexual preferences of their pet. At the same time, he talks about who attracted Dmitry Pavlovich to “real” male love. The name of the seducer is Felix Yusupov. Disappointed and indignant, the emperor and his wife do not want to hear any more about such a marriage for their daughter.
The mystery of death
The truth about Rasputin’s murder emerged only 88 years later, in 2004. And everything fell into place. All the mysteries were explained at once. It became clear why frosty night On March 10 (23), 1917, Rasputin’s body had to be burned and destroyed. So that nothing remains of him, so that it is impossible to exhume the corpse.
Because Grigory Rasputin was killed by a control shot in the forehead by British intelligence agent Oswald Rayner. It was his name that was hidden by Yusupov, Romanov and Purishkevich, who became a blind tool in the hands of the British secret service.
On October 1, 2004, the English TV channel BBC-2 broadcast a film dedicated to the murder of Rasputin. Retired Scotland Yard officer Richard Cullen and historian Andrew Cook, based on photographs of the corpse, autopsy reports, documents and memoirs of that time, reliably reconstructed the picture of the murder.
Yes, Yusupov and Purishkevich both shot at Rasputin. However, it was the English agent who fired the third, control shot in Rasputin’s forehead.
Homosexual and transvestite Felix Yusupov was very “close” to three British intelligence officers.
The behavior of the British Ambassador George Buchanan is indicative. At a reception in honor of the New Year, he spoke to the Russian emperor: “... Since I heard that His Majesty suspected a young Englishman, a school friend of Prince Felix Yusupov, of complicity in the murder of Rasputin, I took the opportunity to convince him that such suspicions are absolutely groundless "
By taking this step, Buchanan gives himself away completely. When else does an ambassador make statements using the expression “I heard”?! After all, this is not just an Englishman speaking to the Russian autocrat, this is a representative of the British monarch speaking. You never know what rumors are circulating in the Russian capital, the ambassador cannot, has no right to respond to them.
About sins and mercies
Rumors about Rasputin's debauchery have not received documentary confirmation. The Commission of the Provisional Government, through the newspaper, invited the women whom he had seduced to respond. Nobody showed up.
For us, it is not so important whether Rasputin was a devil in rags or an angel in the flesh. The main thing is that at a certain period of Russian history it was he who stood in the way of the “allies” leading Russia to destruction. And that’s why he was killed by them.
Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich escaped with a slight fright. At first, by order of the empress, he was put under house arrest. After October, Grand Duke Romanov (an unprecedented case for the dynasty) will officially transfer to British service!
Then he lived in London and Paris. In 1926, Dmitry Pavlovich married a wealthy American woman, Emery. After which he and his sister Maria Pavlovna left for the USA, where the Grand Duke was engaged in the wine trade, and Grand Duchess Served as a consultant for a fashion clothing company.
Felix Yusupov was exiled to the family estate until the end of the investigation. In October 1917, having taken several Rembrandt paintings and a number of family jewelry from his home, he hastily left. He lived in Crimea until 1919, and in April 1919, together with the surviving members of the dynasty, he sailed away in English warship abroad.
We talked about the famous elder with the writer and historian Nikolai STARIKOV
- Nikolai Viktorovich, so who is Rasputin - an uncouth man who miraculously penetrated into royal family, a swindler-hypnotist-sorcerer who uses unusual abilities for your own selfish purposes?
The phenomenon of Rasputin has not yet been revealed. There is evidence of it real help heir who suffered from hemophilia. Rasputin loved Russia, loved the royal family. And it is all the more tragic to realize that it was he who became the reason because of which royal house was covered with dirt from head to toe by revolutionaries and Western propaganda.
Analyzing the life of Rasputin, you come to the conclusion that he is contradictory. He received 10,000 rubles. per year from the Empress, from the Ministry of Internal Affairs. At the same time, he immediately distributed the money that the petitioners brought to people who needed funds. He did not save money; after his death no capital was found. I think that, having found himself at such a height, Rasputin did not refuse the temptations inherent in high position and glory.
But one thing must be said firmly: certain forces launched a targeted campaign to discredit him. Actors were hired who caroused with prostitutes in the makeup and costume of Grigory Efimovich. At the same time, it is also impossible to give a 100 percent guarantee that he himself was an ascetic and never succumbed to temptation.
- Is there some kind of predestination, a sign of fate that such a strange man found himself at the most tragic moment in Russian history on its crest?
I don't believe in predestination. Just like I don’t believe in the inevitability of revolution. Nothing in politics is predetermined. The USSR collapsed not because of “inevitability” or “economic failure,” but because of the betrayal of its leadership. Hitler attacked us not at all because such an attack was “inevitable”, but because he was an Anglophile and believed, having received information through Rudolf Hess, that London would make peace with him.
In the same way, there was no “guarantee” that the Russian people themselves would destroy their country. But work was being done for this. Rasputin became the target of compromise, and through him the empress and emperor were covered up. Worked on creating revolutionary situation in Russia our allies in the Entente, the British. The reason is geopolitical - in the event of an Entente victory, Russia would have the Turkish straits.
But for 200 years England blocked all our attempts to reach the open space Mediterranean Sea through the narrow “traffic jam” of the Bosphorus and Dardanelles. The straits cannot be given back to the Russians. But it will be possible not to give it back if Russia collapses. And so it happened. The Provisional Government immediately abandoned all potential territorial acquisitions. Who benefited from this? To our age-old opponents. It was from London that all our “freedom fighters” were paid for almost a hundred years. And to this day, by the way, the source of funding has not changed.
- If Rasputin had not been killed, might the fate of the royal family have not been so terrible?
The only chance for Russia in that situation could have been a separate peace with the Germans. But the emperor categorically refused to even hear about it. The only one who could connect Berlin and Petrograd, at least theoretically, was Rasputin. And only Rasputin could tell the Tsar this truth. Wishing the best, Rasputin remained at court, giving rise to slander. Perhaps if he had left, events could have gone differently...
- Why did the illiterate man Rasputin have so many enemies?
Even the mother of Nicholas II had a sharply negative attitude towards Rasputin, knowing that he was helping the heir and stopping his bleeding. I think Rasputin was neither a saint nor a devil. This was a man with his own weaknesses.
- Do you believe that Rasputin had a close relationship with the empress?
No, there was nothing like that. This is vile slander. But everyone believed this lie. It was at this moment that it was necessary to remove Rasputin from the royal family. Whatever benefit it brought, the harm from such rumors was much greater. It was this lie that largely led to the fact that in February 1917 everything somehow immediately collapsed.
-Who are they, Rasputin’s killers?
Rasputin's killers are all very strange people. Felix Yusupov and Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich were bisexual and were in a very close relationship. Deputy Purishkevich was a little out of his mind. For example, on May 1 in the Duma, he inserted a scarlet carnation into his fly and in this form walked along the rows, mocking the left-wing deputies. But they were not the soul of the conspiracy. And British intelligence. This is now a proven historical fact.
The British were insuring themselves against a possible separate peace between Russia and Germany. The fatal shot at Rasputin was made by the English intelligence officer Oswald Rayner, who finished off the victim point-blank, in the forehead. And this was no accident. Rayner knew Yusupov from studying together in England, was his friend and was also his lover. It was through the transvestite Yusupov that the British put together a group of conspirators.
Those who even today send their children to study in England must remember, on the one hand, how acquaintances are made there, and on the other, how they are brainwashed.
- What was the fate of the Englishman who fired the fatal shot at Rasputin?
In 1917 (about random coincidence!) Oswald Reiner received the rank of captain. In 1919 he received the order and began work in Stockholm. It was from neutral Scandinavia that British intelligence then conducted its work. In 1920, he was transferred closer - under the cover of journalistic activity, he moved to Finland. Only very naive people can assume that a career intelligence officer near his “core country” is just writing articles in the Daily Telegraph about hot Finnish guys. Subsequently, Reiner did not lose contact with the emigrant Yusupov and helped translate his book into English.
Oswald Reiner died in 1961. It is interesting that it was British researchers who disclosed information about MI6’s participation in the murder. And this is just a tiny part of a huge iceberg demolition work Great Britain versus Russia. There are many more discoveries ahead of us."
The life of Grigory Rasputin gives rise to a lot of speculation and speculation. For some, he was a swindler who “we don’t know how he got close to the king,” for others he was an Elder, while others simply idolized him. But there were many who saw their own threat in Rasputin’s friendship with the Tsar. Trying to eliminate the hated Elder, many tried to kill him.There were many attempts to deprive Grigory Rasputin of his life. Rumor has it that Rasputin himself treated them quite leniently and forgave a lot, which caused even more anger among the haters. They tell of an incident when a group of armed officers burst into his office. The Elder himself remained sitting calmly in his chair. Bare sabers, loaded pistols and drunken, heated officers did not cause fear in Rasputin at all. Seeing the imperturbable calm, the officers were embarrassed by his behavior. And they stood aside, in the corner of the room. To which he told them: “Go yourselves.” The surprised conspirators quickly left.
There was an assassination attempt by one very attractive lady, who, for personal reasons, decided to kill the libertine and molester. When she came to see him, she was full of determination. But Gregory simply asked her to give him the revolver.
They sent him food that was poisoned potassium cyanide, they tried to throw him off a cliff or kill him on the street, they even tried to drown him in the depths of the sea. Rasputin remained alive.
Only one attempt almost brought him to the grave, although his act towards the performer caused mixed reviews from everyone. Some were offended by his behavior, others were indignant, others called him a Saint.
What happened in 1914, on June 29 in the village of Pokrovskoye - the place where Rasputin was vacationing at that time?
Under the leadership of the defrocked monk Iliodor, Nikolai Nikolaevich and Minister Dzhunkovsky plotted an evil deed - an attempt on the life of Rasputin himself. The Syzran bourgeois Khionia Guseva, “a woman with a fallen off nose,” was entrusted with executing the sentence. Rasputin was kind to her and she freely entered the Elder’s house, they trusted her.
The careful planning of the murder is also confirmed by the fact that the journalist Davidson comes to the same village, ostensibly in order to notify the whole world about the death of Rasputin.
How it happened
That day, Rasputin went to the post office to give a telegram to the Empress that he could not come. Although the latter really insisted on this, she asked not to let Russia start a war. At the same moment, Guseva begged for alms, and when Rasputin reached into his wallet and took out three rubles for her, Rasputin’s former follower and mistress stabbed him in the stomach.
The people nearby were ready to tear her to pieces right there on the spot. But Rasputin did not allow it. A little later, at the trial, he will give testimony that will allow Khionia to avoid hard labor and go to the hospital for treatment.
The wound was very severe; there was no chance of survival, given the state of medicine at that time. The paramedic who arrived performed a most complex operation on Grigory Rasputin by candlelight. No one believed that the Elder would remain alive, but Rasputin, not relying on doctors, independently cured himself with medicinal decoctions.
Murder of Rasputin
No one can understand why this man aroused fear among the nobility; perhaps they were frightened by his friendship with the Tsar. Maybe his absolute authority among the people. But nevertheless, after his death, many said that they had rid the country of “this terrible man.” As his great-granddaughter Laurence Huo-Solovieff later said:
“The distance between the two worlds, the two castes is still physically palpable. Aristocrats do not mix with the common people, with the “men”, to which Rasputin belonged. Aristocrats live by their legends, jealously protect their exclusive rights, eager to keep them for themselves. The conspirators used Prince Yusupov as a tool, as a weapon - in own purposes. Rasputin was eliminated. But what benefit did this bring them? "This horrible man" died. The revolution took place after his death. Civil War. Death of the royal family. Stalin. Second World War. But what does Rasputin have to do with these events? He is credited too much big role in Russia's troubles. I don't think he was that significant a figure."
The residence of the Yusupov princes, on the Moika, was expecting a great guest on December 17 (29). Felix Yusupov personally led the operation to eliminate the Elder. Under the pretext of meeting with Felix's wife, he was lured into the prince's palace.
Almond pies with potassium cyanide could not kill Georgiy Rasputin, nor did the subsequent 10 bullets from revolvers. Grigory Efimovich Rasputin rushed to run, climbed over the fence, where he was immediately captured.
He was beaten and drowned in Malaya Nevka, near Kamenny Island. The body was found almost immediately, following traces of blood on the bridge. Pulled out from under the ice. The old man was dead, but even dead he terrified his enemies.
His body was embalmed and buried in Alexander Park in Tsarskoe Selo, near the Church of Seraphim of Sarov. A year later, Kerensky's soldiers burned Rasputin's body in a steam boiler Polytechnic University. They say that during the burning of the body, the Elder sat down, which scared the observers to death. The ashes of the great and mysterious Grigory Rasputin were scattered to the wind.
Whether he was the devil, as his opponents called him, or the Holy Elder, as his companions called him, no one knows. But what he was key figure in Russian history this is undeniable.
St. Petersburg houses often keep secrets - more than Moscow ones, more strictly and more faithfully. Mystery often surrounds this wonderfully beautiful city - one of the most beautiful in the whole world. But still, none of the St. Petersburg palaces so radically influenced the course of the history of our country in the last century - like the palace of the Yusupov princes on the Moika.
This majestic building with luxurious interiors that brought the flavor of the era to today, despite the fact that most of the paintings, tapestries and furniture were transferred to the Hermitage. Some of them are on display - but most of in the funds, although of course their place is in the empty Yusupov Palace, and not in the storerooms of a huge museum overcrowded. But bureaucracy, and even the Soviet post, is a mind-bogglingly difficult and meaningless business.
Currently, in the chambers of the palace that once belonged to Prince Felix Yusupov and his beautiful wife, Princess Irina Alexandrovna, née princess of the House of Romanov, a wonderful and inspired exhibition has been opened. It is dedicated to the Silver Age and the Yusupov family, as well as their architectural projects on the decoration of the palace in a new style and the decorative design of their interiors. And there was a lot to learn from them: firstly, the main advantage of the Yusupovs is excellent, if not refined, taste. The second is inexhaustible funds and the third is the desire to work with contemporary decorators. And what kind!
The interiors of the newly decorated apartments of the young prince and princess are first-class Russian decorators - Andrei Beloborodov, Sergei Chekhonin, Vladimir Konashevich and Nikolai Tyrsa - excellent draftsmen and thin people great and vanished style, which was St. Petersburg Silver Age. These artists created wall paintings, designs for vaults, fireplaces and a swimming pool. One is amazed, especially today, when it is so sad to look at the arrogant and unstylish “palaces of small culture” of the new Russians, overloaded with gold or wood.
The ability to withstand everything in one spirit and know where to stop without going too far - that’s real talent Russian decorator! The exhibition also presents ancient costumes from the collection of collector and antique dealer Natalya Kostrigina, magnificent sketches by Leon Bakst from the collection of the Theater Museum and part of the archive of the famous soprano of the Mariinsky Imperial Theater Maria Kuznetsova, Benois’s first marriage, Massenet’s second. The Theater Museum in St. Petersburg recently bought in Madrid archives, photographs and sketches from the collection of this diva of the Silver Age, a friend of Prince Yusupov.
The murder of Rasputin in 1916 took place in the basement and courtyard of the palace. To lure the voluptuous old man, two beauties were invited - a ballerina Bolshoi Theater, movie star Vera Caralli, at that time the mistress of Grand Duke Dmitry Pavlovich, and Marianna Derfelden, who Rasputin liked very much. Irina Yusupova herself was not in the palace that evening. The poison put in the cakes had no effect. The mysterious old man had to be shot by Dmitry Pavlovich himself on the stairs, and in order to hide the shot, Felix had no choice but to shoot his dog!
But, as Grigory Rasputin predicted, with his death will come the end of Russia. He was quite right about this!
After Bolshevik coup The Yusupovs, who at that time lived in their palace in Crimea, left on the Marlboro packboat together with the Dowager Empress Maria Feodorovna, abroad. Here the Yusupovs, despite the fact that they managed to remove several paintings and furniture, had a hard time. Their new business was the Irfe fashion house opened in Paris, the name of which was made up of abbreviations of the names of Irina and Felix. The fame of the “killer Rasputin” and the beautiful Irina, whose portraits were often published by Vogue, initially attracted many clients to their house. But the crisis of 1929 finally ruined this wonderful business. Dresses marked “Irfe” are now very rare. One is kept in New York, the other in England, but my search continues - and even traces of the dresses of the Yusupov princes were found in Cuba!
They have not been among us for a long time. But the memory of the eccentric prince and his magnificent wife lives on at the exhibition in St. Petersburg. Felix's granddaughter, the now living Ksenia Sfiris, even participates in the Blue Ball, which was held last weekend at the palace on the Moika, accompanied by a fashion show by Slava Zaitsev. Memory loop?
Alexander Vasiliev
Saint Petersburg