World Vignettes

Russia8217;s last Czar awaits burial decision

MOSCOW: The skeleton is small and brittle, charred by acid and darkened by swamp mud. The skull, smashed by rifle butts, has a hole where the face would be. Eighty years after he was executed and six years after his bones were exhumed, the remains of Russia8217;s last czar are still lying under a plastic dome in a police morgue, a haunting reminder of unsettled history.

This month, a commission set up by President Boris Yeltsin is expected to rule, finally and officially, that the skeleton belongs to Nicholas II. That would pave the way for his funeral, perhaps as soon as this year. But Russians are split on how to bury the last Czar with glory and ceremony or with quiet restraint?