27 Nov 2017 11:55

'Considerable time' needed to complete tests on 'Yekaterinburg remains' - Investigative Committee

MOSCOW. Nov 27 (Interfax) - The tests on the "Yekaterinburg remains" have not been completed yet and will require a considerable amount of time, Marina Molodtsova, a senior investigator with the Investigative Committee, said.

"The forensic tests have not been completed yet. There are only interim results on some issues," she said at a scientific conference devoted to the study of the 'Yekaterinburg remains" in Moscow.

Molodtsova said that a total of 34 forensic tests are under way.

Molecular and genetic tests on the bodies have not been completed yet, she said. Additionally, a molecular and genetic evaluation of the soil has been ordered to determine the probability that the bodies were burned, and that evaluation has not been completed yet, either, she said.

Molodtsova discussed studies performed on jewelry, including quartz beads, which show the impact of pliers and a bullet trace. Forensic tests on the notes of Yurovsky, the family's executioner, have been ordered, as there are doubts that he is the author of those notes.

"The forensic tests will require a considerable amount of time," Molodtsova said.

Patriarch Kirill of Moscow and All Russia said earlier on Monday that the Russian Orthodox Church does not currently have an official position on the issue of the authenticity of the imperial family's remains.