Plot to Kill Rasputin II

' T O KILL RASPUTIN

Police crime scene photo showing frozen body of Rasputin

last posted to Russia. It was not long either before he began to record in his reports the view that Rasputin and those in his inner circle (the ‘Dark Forces’) were behind all that was wrong in Russia.

Four thousand miles away in New York City, Rasputin’s former intimate, Bishop Iliodor had resurfaced to find himself at the centre of a storm that would have far reaching repercussions.

The chain of events began within a day or two of his arrival on 18 June, when he met with H J Wigham, the President of Metropolitan Magazine, at his

Manhattan office. As a result, a deal was agreed whereby Iliodor would be interviewed by a Russian speaking journalist named Tobenkin (Iliodor himself spoke no English), who worked for Metropolitan Magazine. The interview would centre on a number of new revelations principally concerning Rasputin, the Tsarina and moves to conclude a peace treaty between Russia and Germany. The source of the story according to Iliodor, were letters, documents and information that he had brought with him from Russia. The contents of the interview would then be used for a series of five articles appear-

ing under Iliodor’s name. It was agreed that he would receive a full and final of $5,000 by 1 August 1916.

The interview duly took place in early September and resulted in an initial article entitled ‘Rasputin: The Holy Devil of Russia’. Trailed in the September edition as being scheduled to appear in November, it was billed as ‘The Biggest Magazine Story of the Year!’ Several days afterwards, Iliodor received two unexpected visitors at his home in the Bronx – Archbishop Evdokin and one Mikhail Ustinov, the Russian Consul-General. They told him that they had read in the Metropolitan Magazine he was to write a number of articles about Rasputin and the Tsarina.

They urged him to not to go ahead with the publication deal and offered him $25,000 if he withdrew them and further agreed not to publish them elsewhere either. Should he not agree, he was told in no uncertain terms that the Russian Consulate would use its influence to prevent publication.

Back in Petrograd, there was a flurry of activity behind the scenes, as the Tsarina began urging her husband, at Rasputin’s behest, to appoint Protopopov to the all powerful post of Minister for the Interior. On 7 September she wrote: My own sweetheart … Grigori begs you earnestly to name Protopopov [as Interior Minister]. I believe in Our Friend’s wisdom and guidance … His

Autopsy photograph showing righthand side of Rasputin’s head

' T O KILL RASPUTIN

46

EYE

SPY

I NT ELLI GENCE

MA GA Z I N E

ment of virtually everyone, Protopopov’s appointment as Interior Minister was announced. Secretary of State for War David Lloyd George made clear to Prime Minister Asquith, in a ‘confidential’ memo that: Germanophile influences have been considerably strengthened by recent changes. Out friends have disappeared one by one and there is no man now of any influence in the Russian Bureaucracy who can be said to be favourable towards this country

Prime Minister Asquith

love for you and Russia is so intense and God has sent Him to be to yr. help and guide and prays so hard for you.

From his reply two days later, it is clear that even the Tsar was somewhat doubtful about the wisdom of appointing such an erratic and questionable character as Protopopov, saying that he ‘must think about that question… one should be careful, especially where high positions are concerned’.

Whatever his doubts, Nicholas does not seem to have held out long, for on 18 September, to the absolute astonishEY E

SP Y

I NTE LL I G ENC E

MAG AZINE

In Petrograd, the Tsarina and Rasputin congratulated themselves over Protopopov’s appointment. On the same day as the announcement was made, Alexandra sent the first in a series of telegrams to the Tsar, begging him to halt the latest offensive, which he initially appears to have done.

However, acting completely in character, he quickly changed his mind having come under pressure from military aides at the Stavka. With equal predictability, Alexandra rushed off another missive on 24 September telling her errant husband that, ‘Our Friend is much put out … says that you were inspired from above to give that order and God would bless it – Now he says again useless losses’. Nicholas countered that changed circumstances had

prompted him to reverse the order, to which Alexandra obliviously retorted, ‘Oh, give your order again to Brussilov stop this useless slaughter … Our generals don’t count the lives - they are hardened to losses and that is a sin … spare those lives’ On the other side of the Atlantic, the proprietors of Metropolitan Magazine formally announced the cancellation of Iliodor’s articles on 3 October. This was obviously a decision the publishers did not take lightly as the November edition had already gone to press. The printers had to be instructed to physically remove the article. From a practical point of view, there was nothing that could be done about the front cover, which featured a colour illustration of a sinister Rasputin looming over a helpless Tsarina. Readers were left to puzzle about the contents of the article which had obviously hit a raw nerve so far as the Russian authorities were concerned.

The veil was finally lifted when officers of the magazine were summoned to appear before the New York Supreme Court on 2 November as defendants in an action brought by an enraged Iliodor.

He told the court that he had formerly ‘been a confidential friend and advisor of Rasputin’ and that his account of

47