by Cook, Andrew
Such news as came through to us during the autumn of 1916 from Russia showed what a fatal blunder the abandonment of the mission was proving. All the omens were pointing to a breakdown of the Russian military effort and to a separate peace with Germany. The King of Sweden (who was pro-German in sympathy) had remarked to the British Ambassador at Stockholm, on hearing this news, that there would be peace between Russia and Germany within two months! Sir George Buchanan… mentioned in a private letter to Lord Charles Beresford on 17th October the prevalence of rumours of a separate peace, which Stürmer had officially denied, and reported the growth of a pro-German sentiment in official circles.18
In his letter, Sir George identified Stürmer (now at the Foreign Office), Protopopov and Rasputin as the leading Germanophiles. To further compound Lloyd George’s suspicions, yet another intelligence report landed on his desk.
SECRET
NOTES FROM A RELIABLE SOURCE
There is talk in various circles in Switzerland about supposed private conversations between Germany and Russia. It is impossible to get proof of this, but it is said that these conversations are taking place between the Crown Princess Cecilia and the Empress of Russia with Rataieff [sic], Chief of the Russian Secret Police, in Switzerland as an intermediary. The last speech of Bethmann Hollweg seems to corroborate this. Its tone is courteous towards Russia and the assurance that Germany does not want to interfere with Russian internal politics, as well as the complete absence a statement concerning Poland looks as if Germany wanted to leave this question open in order to eventually settle it with Russia. Bethmann’s vehemence against England and her presumed use of her Allies to serve her own ends leads to the belief that if these conversations really exist they must be on a strong anti-English basis. Bethmann’s words ‘we will not interfere’ seems to contrast to the fears always expressed by the reactionary parties in Russia that the Allies will want to interfere.19
Lloyd George was not the only one with an impending sense of doom. Many in Russia tried to get Nicholas to send Rasputin into exile. The Tsar’s mother, the Dowager Empress Maria Fyodorovna, had long ago been alienated by the Tsarina and had moved away from Petrograd to live in Kiev. She hardly saw the couple, or her grandchildren. ‘In the twelve years I was with [the Tsarina] Alexandra Fyodorovna, I saw Maria Fyodorovna maybe three times’, Vyrubova later testified.20 But in October 1916 the Dowager Empress made a special journey to warn her son, in pretty much the same terms that Sir George Buchanan had, that the pernicious influence of ‘advisors’ on his wife was endangering the monarchy. He changed nothing.
EIGHT
CARDS ON THE TABLE
There was a lot of talk about murdering Rasputin, and that is what most of it was: just talk. The muzhik was seemingly so well guarded that practical possibilities could apparently not be found. Aristocratic officers were the most likely to assassinate him because they despised all he stood for, and would have had no compunction about killing such an upstart.
Some time in the autumn of 1916 a carefully thought-out plot to murder Rasputin began to take shape in somebody’s mind.
The murderer must be someone whose proximity would not cause Rasputin, or his minders, any concern.
This person should have a perfect alibi.
Rasputin should simply disappear. People would guess that he could have died in a drunken brawl on the Islands he was so fond of visiting. Were the body found, this would be confirmed.
Had the person who considered these principles been British, he would not pass the first hurdle; he would never get close to Rasputin.
Prince Felix Yusupov, on the other hand, had met Rasputin and knew Mounya Golovina, one of his intimate disciples, very well. He was married to a Romanov, which meant that he would probably be safe from prosecution. Also, he had personal reasons for taking revenge on Rasputin. According to Yusupov, his father had lost his job as Governor-General of Moscow because he denounced to the Tsar, with anger, the pro-German schemers who hampered his work.1
As for whether Yusupov could kill Rasputin in cold blood… the Prince had a lot to prove. As a member of the Corps des Pages, he was part of a militaristic band of brothers to which his reputation hardly qualified him for admittance. People suspected that he would fail his exams on purpose to avoid active service. On the other hand, participation in Rasputin’s murder would make him a hero in the eyes of his peers.
Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich had something better than an alibi. No Romanov could face a firing squad.
The identity of those involved in the planning of Rasputin’s murder is reasonably clear. What remains unclear is whether British intelligence officers proactively approached Yusupov and Dmitri Pavlovich with the idea of carrying out a murder by proxy or whether they heard about their desire to kill Rasputin at a very early stage and sought to exploit this opportunity for their own ends. Either way, the longstanding personal rapport between Yusupov, Stephen Alley, John Scale and Oswald Rayner was absolutely key to the collaboration.
John Scale’s two daughters, Betty and Muriel, have clear memories of hearing their father’s account of his involvement. According to Betty, he told them that he was ‘involved in the planning but was not at the murder’.2 Muriel also confirmed that
He was involved in the planning of it; they were all together… You see they had to do something, but in fact he wasn’t there when they actually killed him, he was somewhere else, so he didn’t actually take part in that, but he was involved in all the planning and how they were going to get rid of him… He knew the Yusupovs very well. He used to stay at their palace… palaces.3
We also have corroboration of British involvement in the planning from another source. William Compton was a chauffeur who worked for the Anglo-Russian Hospital from his engagement in June 1916 until its closure in February 1918 and the evacuation of its staff to England. He left a diary, from which it is clear that some of the chauffeurs used to moonlight as drivers for other members of the British community in Petrograd. Compton in particular drove Oswald Rayner and John Scale. Most significantly, his diary (in this respect, an account-book) confirms that on six occasions between late October and mid-November of 1916, he took Rayner and Scale to and from the Yusupov Palace. Two further visits are recorded after Scale’s departure for Romania on 11 November, the last of which was the night before the murder.
Whether the idea to murder Rasputin was initially Yusupov and Dmitri Pavlovich’s or the intelligence officers’, it is clear that the pair were to be the means of physically carrying out the deed. The Achilles heel of involving the two playboys was that everyone knew their business.
The first rumours of approaching murder reached Simanovich at the Fire Club, a gambling club he ran in Countess Ignateva’s house on the Champ de Mars… Ivan came to him to say that there were mysterious meetings at the National [a rival club] where a lot was said about Rasputin. Alexis sometimes worked in the room where the meetings were held. Simanovich gave him 500 roubles and told him to ask Alexis to find out as much as he could. Alexis reported back that the meetings were chaired by Purishkevich and were attended by Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, Prince Felix Yusupov, and some young officers. ‘They spoke a lot about Rasputin in these meetings,’ Simanovich said; the name of the English Ambassador, Buchanan, and those of the Tsar and Tsarina were also mentioned.4
Yusupov’s famously gothic account of the murder, translated by, and essentially co-written with, Oswald Rayner in 1927, naturally makes no mention of British involvement. Despite a degree of cynicism about Yusupov’s account on the part of historians, the book more or less became the authorised account of the murder for the best part of nine decades. Rayner himself certainly felt that it was very much a shared endeavour and ensured that his name appeared in big bold letters, only slightly smaller than Yusupov’s, on the title page of the British edition. In fact, it seems that it was he, rather than Yusupov, who initially approached London publishers Jonathan Cape with a proposal for the book. According to Yusupov, the
conspiracy was all his own idea. He talked to Princess Irina first, and she agreed with him that something must be done. He began (no date is given) by making sure he was doing the right thing.
I decided to attach no particular importance to all the disturbing rumours which were rife, but first of all to obtain irrefutable evidence of Rasputin’s treason.5
He put the case against Rasputin to Mounya Golovina, and she happily admitted that the Tsar and Tsarina discussed affairs of state with the man he called an ‘unenlightened and uneducated muzhik.’ ‘There are obviously people behind him who are secretly directing him,’’he told her sternly.
She wouldn’t listen; he didn’t understand the essential holiness of Rasputin, she said. That was enough.
I realised that no more time must be wasted in talk; it was necessary to take action, deliberately and with energy, while all was not yet lost.6
He decided ‘To consult certain influential people’ and to tell them all he knew of Rasputin’s doings. These were all people who in the past had bemoaned the man’s influence, but now that he approached them with a view to taking action, backed off. They had ‘an addiction to a quiet life, and an eager desire for their own welfare’. One who saw the point of what he was saying, but was not in a position to do anything, was Rodzyanko, a relation of Yusupov’s, a huge fellow who was Speaker of the Duma at the time. He agreed that it was all quite dreadful, but what could one do when ‘The entire Government, and those who are in close contact with the Emperor, are without exception Rasputin’s nominees?’ The only way out, said Rodzyanko, was ‘To kill the blackguard’.7
This was more like it. Yusupov was full of trepidation, but an inner voice strengthened his resolve:
Every murder is a crime and a sin, but in the name of your country you must take this sin on your conscience. You must take it without faltering. At the front, millions of innocent men have been killed…8
His decision was made, and he wondered ‘To whom I could entrust my secret’. This is typical of Yusupov, as it begs the question of why he didn’t just get on and figure out how to do it alone, or pay for it to be done, in a way that would remain undiscovered. But his first impulse was to unburden himself – of what by now was barely secret.
He decided on Dmitri Pavlovich and Lt Sukh-otin. Sergei Sukh-otin, from the smart Preobrazhenski Regiment, was twenty-nine, like Yusupov, and currently convalescing in the Anglo-Russian Hospital from wounds received in action. Yusupov visited him practically every day.
Both agreed at once to participate in the plot. Yusupov dismissed a qualm of trepidation about ‘The most distressing possibilities’ that might arise from all this, as
I was buoyed up by the hope that the destruction of Rasputin would save the Tsar’s family, and that the Emperor, roused from the spell which had been cast on him, would lead the country to a decisive victory at the head of his united people.
Somehow, all three of them convinced themselves that inside that weak little man was a valiant warrior, all ready to burst forth in shining armour brandishing the sword of freedom. Yusupov’s inner hero was not much in evidence at the moment; Dmitri Pavlovich, who had to go back to the Stavka soon, was sure he was being drugged.
They arranged that when Dmitri next returned from the Stavka, between Saturday 10 December and Thursday 15 December, they would ‘work out a detailed plan for Rasputin’s destruction, and prepare everything for its fulfilment’.9
When Dmitri left Petrograd, the convalescent Sukhotin (who had been upstairs from Dmitri’s in the Anglo-Russian Hospital all the time) paid Yusupov a visit ‘at home’ – possibly at the palace of his father-in-law, Grand Duke Alexander, where he was staying while the Yusupov Palace apartments were being finished; or, more likely, Privately at the Yusupov Palace. They decided that Yusupov should get to know Rasputin better, and try to persuade or bribe him to go away from Tsarskoye Selo. But,
…we had to decide on the method to use in case this failed and we were obliged to resort to violence. I proposed that we cast lots to decide which of us would shoot the starets.10
Two meetings took place between Yusupov and Rasputin; the first on the pretext that Yusupov required healing, and the second because Rasputin wanted to hear gypsy music (which the Prince was still good at, despite no longer being a soprano). Then he had to work for an exam, and did not see Rasputin for a while, until Mounya Golovina insisted he go with her to Rasputin’s flat.
When their car was quite close, she told the driver to stop around the corner, and explained to Felix that Okhrana men watched Rasputin round the clock and kept a record of visitors. Yusupov explained later that she ‘knew how intensely my family disliked the starets, and spared no effort to keep my relations with him secret’.11
After the meeting at Gorokhovaya Street, Yusupov was sure that Rasputin was too comfortably set up to leave Petrograd of his own volition, and not at all in need of money; he could have as much as he wanted from people seeking positions of power. He went back to Rasputin’s again, this time for a hands-on healing session. ‘After this hypnotic séance I repeatedly went to him, sometimes with Mounya, sometimes alone.’ He recounts Rasputin’s boasting in detail and claims that Rasputin, drunk, told him,
When it’s all settled, we’ll hail Alexandra as Regent for her young son and we’ll send ‘him’ [the Tsar] to Livadia for a rest… There! Won’t that be a treat for him? To be a market gardener! He’s worn out… he must have a rest.12
At one point in this account mysterious strangers enter and Yusupov peeps from behind a door.
Four of them were typically and unmistakeably Jewish in appearance. The remaining three were singularly alike; they were fair-haired, with red faces and small eyes.13
German spies, the lot of them! That settled it. Yusupov was now convinced that Rasputin ‘was at the root of all the evil, and the primary cause of all the misfortunes which had befallen Russia’.
However he also perceived that, were Rasputin to be shot in his own flat, the Tsar would interpret his death as a ‘demonstration against the Tsar and his family’. The consequences that might arise from this are not stated. Yusupov, therefore, thought it would be best for Rasputin to disappear in such a way that assassination, rather than accidental murder, was not provable and no perpetrators could be discovered.
If he really wanted this, he had certainly failed to grasp that the more people knew about the murder, the more likely it was that he would be found out. And as if being overheard in the Fire Club was not bad enough, he proceeded to enlist more conspirators.
There had recently been two outbursts against Rasputin in the Duma: one from Maklakov, and one from Purishkevich (on 19 November). This was significant in that it was the first time that Rasputin had been openly denounced by name, as opposed to coded references such as ‘Dark Forces’. Maklakov was a distinguished lawyer. Purishkevich was the same monarchist anti-Semite who before the war had so despised the Duma that he once attended a session wearing a flower in his fly-button. Since the Tsar had fallen under Rasputin’s spell, Purishkevich had changed. He now saw the point of the Duma, and was an active member. With his loudly expressed disdain for ‘Titled riff-raff’, as he called them, he had even attracted a popular following.
Yusupov resolved to go and see both of them. Maklakov was intrigued, but claimed a prior engagement. He did, however, encourage him with the gift of a truncheon.
Purishkevich was keen, although he pointed out at once that Rasputin was well guarded and it would be hard to get close to him. Yusupov explained that that aspect of the affair had already been sorted out. Purishkevich then suggested they also enlist the help of Dr Lazovert – the medical doctor of his military detachment, who would be a useful driver. Now they were five: Dmitri, Yusupov and Sukhotin the original conspirators, and Purishkevich and Lazovert the second rank.
Certain decisions were taken. The problem of gunshot noise and wounds was addressed. Rasputin would be poisoned by cyanide of potassium because ‘poison was the surest
means of killing him without leaving any trace of murder’. He would be lured to the basement dining room in Prince Yusupov’s private apartment, which ‘lent itself admirably to the accomplishment of our scheme’. It was at a distance from the rest of the palace, nobody could approach without being heard, the walls were thick and the windows high and small. And there was no way out.
The date of 16 December was chosen, as this was the date by which Princess Irina was expected back from the Crimea. Rasputin had always wanted to meet her. (It was also the day before Yusupov expected to go to the Crimea – he told different stories at different times – and the day before Purishkevich was to receive the entire Duma on his hospital train, but apparently neither would require cocoa and an early night).
Irina’s real position in all this – she rather fades out of it in her husband’s account – was that she didn’t like it one bit, but if it was going to take place she had better be there. (Indeed, as a Romanov, she would be further back-up against police intrusion.) Her letter to Yusupov on 25 November makes her feelings clear:
…Thanks for your insane letter. I didn’t understand half of it. I see that you’re planning to do something wild. Please be careful and don’t stick your nose into all that dirty business. The dirtiest thing is that you have decided to do it all without me. I don’t see how I can take part in it now, since it’s all arranged. Who is ‘M.Gol.’? I just realised what that means and who they are while writing this! In a word, be careful. I see from your letter that you’re in a state of wild enthusiasm and ready to climb a wall… I’ll be in Petrograd on the 12th or 13th, so don’t dare to do anything without me, or else I won’t come at all. Love and kisses. May the Lord protect you.14