Rasputin's Death: Forensic Evidence Contradicts Legend

A forensic re-evaluation of Grigori Rasputin's 1916 murder challenges the enduring myth of the 'Mad Monk' surviving poison, bullets, and drowning. The official autopsy by Dr. Dmitry Kosokotov found no poison in Rasputin's system and no water in his lungs, indicating he was dead before being thrown into the Nevka River. The cause of death was a contact gunshot wound to the forehead. The sensational account by Prince Felix Yusupov, who claimed Rasputin survived cyanide-laced cakes and wine, is now considered largely fabricated. The murder was carried out by Yusupov, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich, and Vladimir Purishkevich, with possible British intelligence involvement via spy Oswald Rayner. Rasputin's body was later exhumed and burned by revolutionaries after the 1917 Revolution.