MOSCOW, July 16. /TASS/. Most Russians believe the murder of the last Russian Czar, Nicholas II, and his family members in 1918 had no justification, describing it as a monstrous crime rather than an act of retribution, a poll conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center ahead of the centenary of the execution of the Royal family showed on Monday.

"Most Russians (57%) believe that the execution of the Royal family is a heinous unjustified crime (this number is bigger among people aged 35+ than among the younger generation aged between 18 and 34). Another 29% said the last Russian emperor paid too high a price for his mistakes. Nevertheless, young people believe that he had to be punished for them, with 46% among those aged between 18 and 24 more often expressing this point of view. Just 3% of those polled were certain that the Royal family’s execution was the public’s just retribution for the emperor’s blunders," the pollster said.

That said, Russians generally see Nicholas II in a positive light (43%). This viewpoint was expressed most often by people aged 45 (45-46%).

On the other hand, 22% tend to think of him negatively. Young people aged between 18 and 24 often said they disliked the last Russian emperor. However, 7% of the respondents stressed they were indifferent to Nicholas II, while 4% said they felt empathy for him.

"By now, the Soviet narrative, which claimed the execution of the Czar’s family by their Bolshevik captors near Yekaterinburg during [Russia’s] Civil War was a necessary and fair act of revenge for the blunders and crimes committed by the Romanov family, has finally exhausted its credibility. Regardless of their political views and relations towards the tragic events that occurred a century ago, Russians consider that a crime, which has no justification whatsoever. Amid this sentiment, the last czar, whatever his accomplishments or failures, is seen by today’s public as a nice person who deserves compassion, at the very least," the pollster’s Director General Valery Fyodorov noted.

The survey was conducted by the Russian Public Opinion Research Center on July 11, 2018, with 1,600 people aged 18 and above interviewed over the phone. The margin of error does not exceed 2.5% with a probability of 95%.