Alexander Avdonin, the Ural geologist who discovered the remains of Nicholas II and his family in 1979, died in Ekaterinburg on 20th February 2026, at the age of 93.

In May 1979, working in secret, Alexander Avdonin, together with the writer and screenwriter Geliy Trofimovich Ryabov (1932-2015), discovered the place where the remains of the Imperial Family and their four faithful retainers were hidden by the regicides in July 1918. For 12 years, the Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences kept this secret. It was only in 1991, following the fall of the Soviet Union, the remains were exhumed and identified. Avdonon and Ryabov’s discovery is considered one of the most significant events in post-Soviet Russia’s history.

Alexander Nikolaevich Avdonin was born in Sverdlovsk [Ekaterinburg] on 10th June 1932, in the family of a civil engineer Nikolai Gavrilovich and a housewife Ksenia Ivanovna Avdonin. After graduating from school, in 1948, he entered the Sverdlovsk Mining and Metallurgical College. He graduated in 1952 with a degree in geology technician. From 1952 to 1957, he studied at the Faculty of Geology and Geophysics of the Sverdlovsk Mining Institute, receiving the specialty of geophysical engineer.

PHOTOS: Alexander Avdonin with Prince Michael of Kent at the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore in Ekaterinburg. June 2012

From 1957 to 1991, Avdonin worked in the Ural Geological Administration as the head of experimental and methodological research in the Ural Geophysical Expedition. In 1981, he was awarded the degree of Doctor of Geological and Mineralogical Sciences.

Following the exhumation of the Ekaterinburg Remains in 1991, Avdonin founded the Yekaterinburg Public Discovery Foundation and became its chairman. In 1993, he was included in the government commission for the identification of the remains of the Imperial Family and remained a member until the burial of Nichola’s II and his family’s remains in St. Petersburg on 17th July 1998.

From 1993, Avdonin worked as a senior researcher at the Sverdlovsk Regional Museum of Local Lore. He was the organizer and member of the creative team for the exhibitions “Russia. The Romanovs. The Urals” (1993) and “The Romanovs: Return to History” (1997). In addition, he he was in charge of the museum’s “Hall in Mmemory of the Romanovs”.

Alexander Avdonin was the author of monographs and scientific articles, and the initiator of the scientific “Romanov Readings” conferences. He gave public lectures at universities in Russia, as well as the United States, Italy, Spain, Germany, and other countries.

Alexander Avdonin’s funeral will take place on Sunday, 23rd February, in the village of Kurganovo, Sverdlovsk region, where he recently lived.

Alexander Nikolaevich Avdonin (1932-2026)
Memory Eternal! Вечная Память!

© Paul Gilbert. 20 February 2026