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Yeltsin speaks at the reburial of the Romanovs

Published: Dec. 12, 2023, 10 a.m.

In 1998, Russia\u2019s President Boris Yeltsin shocked the nation with a last-minute decision to speak at the reburial of Tsar Nicholas II and his family, 80 years after their murder.

\u201cWe must end an age of blood and violence in Russia,\u201d he said, as he called for the country to face up to the crimes of its communist past.

Lilia Dubovaya, a reporter for the state news service, told Robert Nicholson about the emotional weight of the day. A Whistledown production for BBC World Service.

(Image: President Yeltsin at the reburial of Tsar Nicholas II. Credit: Reuters)