Luchenko said Putin is “less interested” in burying the ex-royal family’s remains while his predecessor Yeltsin saw it as “personal repentance.” Putin “does not worship Nicholas II. His heroes are Alexander III and Alexander Nevsky,” she said, referring to Nicholas II’s father and a 13th-century leader. Nonetheless, she called the dispute an “uncomfortable situation” for Putin, who has positioned himself as a close ally of the Church. “It somehow frustrates (the Kremlin),” she said, adding that authorities want to “draw a line under this situation.” In 2015, at the Church’s request, Russia reopened its criminal investigation into the remains of Alexei and Maria, reportedly exhuming Alexander III. But three years on, no results have been announced. “The Church has not formulated a position on the results of the investigation,” Patriarch Kirill said last November. Father Kurayev accused the Church of not wanting to make the results public, suggesting they match previous tests. “They made a mistake with the science and now they are reluctant to take a step back.”