Alexander Avdonin, a Russian geologist, died on February 20, 2026, at the age of 93.
Born in Sverdlovsk in 1932, he worked as a mineralogist and archeologist. Avdonin was known as the first recorded person to begin exhuming the grave of the seven murdered Romanovs and four members of their household in 1979.
He was also interested in local history and folklore in Sverdlovsk, where the Romanovs were murdered in 1918.
Alexander Nikolayevich Avdonin (Russian: Александр Николаевич Авдонин; 10 June 1932 – 20 February 2026) was a Russian who was the first known person, in 1979, to begin exhuming the grave of the seven murdered Romanovs and four members of their household. He was born in Sverdlovsk in the Soviet Union, where the Romanovs were murdered in 1918.