The Russian authorities have confirmed this week that the remains of Prince Alexei Nikolayevich and those of his sister, Grand Duchess Maria Nikolayevna, have been identified after 90 years since the Bolsheviks executed Russia's last royal family. Many people still view Nicholas II as the greatest Russian of all time, which is also reflected by the hundreds of people who gathered at the church where the remains of the royal family are currently buried, in the outcome of the announcement made at Moscow.

"He is a symbol of a great and powerful Russia who also did great things for the country," said 18-year-old Yevgeny Chindyasky, one of those gathered to mark the 90th anniversary of the events that led to the death of Nicholas II, his wife and children.

In the spring of 1917, Russia was on the verge of total collapse. To avoid the onset of a civil war, Nicholas II of Russia was forced to abdicate on March 2nd, 1917, in favor of his brother Grand Duke Michael, who failed to accept the throne. The Provisional Government then placed the royal family under house arrest several weeks later, until the Bolsheviks came into power in October when the imprisonment rules became stricter. In April the following year, part of the family was moved to the Yekaterinburg, while Alexei remained with three of his sisters in Tabolsk until May.

On July 17, 1918 the royal family and three of their servants were awakened at 2:33 A.M., taken into the basement of the house where they were kept, and executed. The executioners then took the bodies of the royal family, burned them before dousing them in acid to make their identification harder, and then placed them into two pits - Nicholas II, his wife and three of his daughters in one of them and Alexei and Maria in the other.

After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the remains of the family were reburied at the St. Peter and Paul Cathedral in St. Petersburg, albeit the remains of Alexei and Maria were found only last year, some 70 meters away from the location where the Czar was buried. Later forensic investigations and DNA tests confirmed that indeed those were the remains of Nicholas' two children.

"The overall scientific results, which were based on DNA tests using three genetic systems, agrees with the hypothesis that in the second burial site the remains of Grand Duchess Maria and Tsarevich Alexei have been found," said the Prosecutor-General's Office.

Nicholas and his family were canonized as martyrs by the Russian Orthodox Church.