page_title: Vladimir Purishkevich
section_title: Killing of Rasputin
hierarchical_section_title: Vladimir Purishkevich / Killing of Rasputin
caption_attribution_description: English: Purishkevich' medical aid train in 1916
context_page_description: Vladimir Mitrofanovich Purishkevich was a right-wing politician in Imperial Russia, noted for his monarchist, ultra-nationalist, antisemitic and anticommunist views. Because of his restless behaviour, he was regarded as a loose cannon. At the end of 1916, he participated in the killing of Grigori Rasputin.
context_section_description: Prince Felix Yusupov was impressed by the speech. He visited Purishkevich, who quickly agreed to participate in the killing of Rasputin. Also, Grand Duke Dmitri Pavlovich joined the conspiracy. Purishkevich talked to Samuel Hoare, the head of the British Secret Intelligence Service in Petrograd.
  A wealthy person, Purishkevich organised a medical aid that went up and down to the Eastern Front to deliver wounded soldiers to the hospitals in Tsarskoye Selo.
  On the evening of 16 December 1916, the conspirators gathered in the Moika Palace and eventually killed Rasputin.
  A curious policeman on duty on the other side of the Moika had heard the shots, rang at the door and was sent away. Half-an-hour later, another policeman arrived, and Purishkevich invited him into the palace. Purishkevich told him that he had shot Rasputin and asked him to keep it quiet for the sake of the Tsar.
  They had planned to burn Rasputin's possessions. Sukhotin put on Rasputin's fur coat, rubber boots and gloves. He left with Dmitri and Dr Lazovert in Purishkevich's car, which suggests that Rasputin had left the palace alive. Because Purishkevich's wife refused to burn the fur coat and the boots in her small fireplace in the ambulance train, the conspirators went back to the palace with the larger items.
  Yusupov and Dmitri were placed under house arrest in the Sergei Palace. The Tsarina had refused to meet them but said that they could explain to her what had happened in a letter. Purishkevich assisted them and left the city to the Romanian front at ten in the evening. Because of his popularity, Purishkevich was neither punished nor banned.
caption: Medical aid train in 1916
exif: {"Image Orientation": "Horizontal (normal)", "Image XResolution": "72009/1000", "Image YResolution": "72009/1000", "Image ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "Image Software": "Adobe Photoshop", "Image DateTime": "2014:02:07 18:59:21", "Image Artist": "Picasa", "Image ExifOffset": "170", "Thumbnail Compression": "JPEG (old-style)", "Thumbnail XResolution": "72", "Thumbnail YResolution": "72", "Thumbnail ResolutionUnit": "Pixels/Inch", "EXIF ExifVersion": "0220", "EXIF DateTimeOriginal": "2013:05:01 00:05:48", "EXIF ColorSpace": "sRGB", "EXIF ExifImageWidth": "1079", "EXIF ExifImageLength": "750", "EXIF ImageUniqueID": "a4bedbff2e8a071d487524a8e72fd682"}