Richard
I eagerly await publication of your book.
You are absolutely right that the line “dawn was approaching” has to be wrong. The author has obviously never been to Scotland in the winter. At St. Petersburg’s latitude that time of year, “dawn” - if you can call it that - only comes about nine am . I spent years in Alaska where the Kenai Peninsula is on the same latitude as Petrograd.
It seems to have been cold that night and at that latitude one can expect heavy ice fog off of the water [like the Moika and the Little Neva]. This delays any “real” sunrise for as much as two hours after the astronomical and official sunrise during the winter solstice.
I am interested in your opinion about Wilton’s [the Times’] relationship with British Intelligence. On the London end, the owners of the Times and other media barons were expected to print what the government wanted. It would seem likely that the Times would show MI-5 the courtesy of forwarding them Wilton’s accounts, as a “johnny-on-the- spot”, likely as soon as the cable arrived at the Times.
Shouldn’t Wilton’s live reports as a respected journalist should be given some weight? Were you able to find out anything to support or refute the relationship between the Times and MI-5 on your end?
Also, were you able to get access to contemporary MI-5 files from the time? According to something I once read on this website, File 705 for Russia contains the traffic between the British Embassy in St. Petersburg and MI-5 in London. It is apparently missing over eight hundred telegrams, sent immediately after Rasputin’s murder, Nos. 7 to 811 [I didn’t see a reference to the actual the signal numbers or the log], starting just before New Years Eve 1916. [January 14 on the British calendar, December 31 is December 16 in Russia as you know.]
Specifically, the first telegram is dated December 29th from Oswald Rayner, advising, that he is close on the track of a German spy.
There is a response from the British Ambassador Sir George Buchanan [sent Dec 30th 1916 and received 31st Dec.] This signal was numbered 265108, noted as being kept with the next signal concerning the murder.
Notably, this was sent the day before the murder - which could lead to certain conclusions.
The next telegram was again dated Dec 30th 1916 and received on Jan 1st 1917, summarized as ‘M Rasputin’s murder - circumstances of’ [referenced to file 705] noted as coming from Petrograd. The next telegram was received Jan 2nd, again from Petrograd, summarized as ‘Conversation with GD Nicholas. Gloomy view of internal conditions.’
That this concerns the killing we can tell because it too is recorded as being filed with signal 705.
There is also a telegram dated Jan 4th from Sir George Buchanan is summarized as ‘Murder of Rasputin - Czar’s refusal to release Prince Yusupov; Former reactionary leader Purishkevich said to have planned murder.’ This too is recorded as being held with the same file 705.
The fact that the records end there where missing traffic starts could suggest that there were “discussions” after the murder. The fact of their removal could suggest that without Rasputin the British became even more worried about keeping Russia in the war. This would seem strange if the German spy had been eliminated. Perhaps, after torturing Rasputin to death, London decided the German spy was not Rasputin after all. If in fact there is anything to the talk about removing or perhaps even assassinating Czar Nicholas II - so that the protesting Grand Duke Nicholas would be forced to take the throne – the missing traffic supports the possibility that Rasputin’s murder started a chain of British secret activities that were very bad.
Did you find anything to support or refute this?
Thanks,
