President Yeltsin's last-minute decision to attend the controversial burial in St Petersburg of the remains of Tsar Nicholas II, the Empress Alexandra, and three of their five children, is very much in character. He has a long record of abrupt changes of mind, and having reiterated for the best part of a year that he would not attend the burial, it is not surprising that he will now be present. The convoluted saga of the imperial remains has been symptomatic of today's Russia. At first political leaders in Yekaterinburg, St Petersburg, and Moscow, competed eagerly with each other to have the remains buried in their respective cities. In each case the city leaders had their eyes as much on potential tourist revenue as on any symbolic reconciliation between Russians of different traditions. In the end a State commission appointed by Mr Yeltsin came down in favour of St Petersburg as the burial place and today at least part of Russia's imperial family will receive a Christian burial.
It is a remarkable paradox, however, that Mr Yeltsin's decision to be present at the ceremony is likely to alienate those emigre Russians who were steadfast in their loyalty to the monarchy. Most Russian emigres are members of the Russian Orthodox Church in Exile and, as such, believe the true remains of the Tsar and his family to be embedded in the walls of the Church of St Job in Brussels. They see Mr Yeltsin as the Communist Party boss who oversaw the destruction of the Ipatiev House in Yekaterinburg in which the Romanovs were killed; as the President who took their Russian imperial flag as his own and who appropriated their imperial symbol of the two-headed eagle. They now believe him to have repudiated the Brussels remains and to have put himself forward as the "father of the nation" by associating himself with what they term as the "false relics" of Yekaterinburg.
While there is little doubt from DNA testing that the bones to be buried today are those of the Romanovs, it is impossible, in some cases, to determine which bones belong to which Romanov. The remains of two members of the family are missing. One of these is of the Tsarevich Alexei and there is strong scientific evidence that the bones buried today as those of Grand Duchess Anastasia are actually those of her sister, Maria. Orthodox Russians, who regard the family as sainted martyrs, have insisted on more accurate identification before a burial service takes place.
The Patriarch of Moscow and All the Russias, Alexiy II, will not attend today's ceremony out of deference to those believers whose sensitivities have been disturbed by today's ceremony. Mr Yeltsin, on the other hand, has no such worries. His presence in St Petersburg will enhance his image with Russians at home whatever about the monarchist diaspora.
A presidential election is due to take place in 2000. It is not yet clear if the constitution will allow Mr Yeltsin to stand for a third term but there have been indications that he may do so. His presence today may be another straw in the wind.