On June 17, newspapers in Moscow and Petrograd carried reports of Michael’s “disappearance,”† Concurrently rumors spread that Nicholas had been killed by a Red Army soldier who had broken into Ipatev’s house.54 These rumors could have originated spontaneously, but it is much more likely that they were intentionally floated by the Bolsheviks to test the reaction of both the Russian public and foreign governments to the killing of Nicholas, preparations for which were underway. What gives credence to this hypothesis is the extraordinary behavior of Lenin. On June 18, he gave an interview to the daily
Apart from aristocratic and monarchist circles, the Russian population, intelligentsia and “masses” alike, gave no indication of caring one way or another what happened to Nicholas. Nor was foreign opinion upset. A dispatch filed by the Petrograd correspondent of
Every time this kind of public prominence is given to the Romanoff family people think that something serious is on foot. Bolshevists are getting impatient of these frequent surprises about the deposed dynasty, and the question is again raised as to the advisability of settling the fate of the Romanoffs, so as to be done with them once for all.
“Settling the fate of the Romanovs” could, of course, only mean killing them. This rather crude feeler fell on deaf ears.
The indifference to these rumors inside Russia and abroad seems to have sealed the fate of the Imperial family.
On June 17, the family heard the welcome news that the nuns of the Novotikhvinskii Convent, whose previous requests of this nature had been rejected, would be allowed to deliver eggs, milk, and cream to them. As became subsequently known, this was done not out of concern for their well-being but as part of a Cheka plot.
On June 19 or 20, the Imperial prisoners received from the nuns a container of cream, the cork of which had concealed a piece of paper with the following message, carefully penned or more likely copied by someone with poor knowledge of French:
Les amis ne dorment plus et espèrent que l’heure si longtemps attendue est arrivée. La revolte des tschekoslovaques menace les bolcheviks de plus en plus serieusement. Samara, Tschelabinsk et toute la Sibirie orientale et occidentale est au pouvoir de gouvernement national provisoir. L’armée des amis slaves est à quatre-vingt kilometres d’Ekaterinbourg, les soldats de l’armée rouge ne resistent pas efficassement. Soyez attentifs au tout mouvement de dehors, attendez et espérez. Mais en même temps, je vous supplie, soyez prudents, parce que les bolcheviks avant d’être
Un qui est prêt a mourir pour vous
L’officieu [sic] de l’armée Russe.*
The response was supplied on the same sheet of crumpled notebook paper. Next to the inquiry about the hour when the family retired, is written “à 11½”; the query about “two rooms” is corrected to “three rooms.” Underneath is written in a firm, legible hand:
