Russia's Romanov dynasty were massacred by the Bolsheviks in 1918

Russia has dramatically reopened a criminal probe into the death of last Tsar Nicholas II and exhumed the emperor's remains.

The bones of his controversial German-born empress Alexandra were also removed from a tomb in St Petersburg for new tests.

The move came in an attempt to persuade the Russian Orthodox Church that bones buried in St Petersburg in 1998 are those of the tragic tsar and his wife, who brought ridicule on the Romanov dynasty due to her friendship with 'crazed monk' Grigory Rasputin.

Dramatic: Russia has reopened a criminal probe into the death of last Tsar Nicholas II and Empress Alexandra (both left) and exhumed their remains. Pictured right are the Tsar's remains before they were reburied in 1998

Russia's Romanov dynasty were massacred by the Bolsheviks in 1918. Remains of tsar, empress and three children were thrown into a mineshaft but were analysed and reburied in 1998

The remains of two other children (one of which is pictured here) were found in 2007. Russia now wants to convince the Russian Orthodox Church to let the children be buried alongside their parents

Previous burial: Scientists are certain that the correct bones were buried in a military ceremony in 1998

Churchmen wanted new tests on the bones before going ahead with plans to bury remains of Crown Prince Alexey and his sister Maria.

Nicholas II and his family were shot to death by the Bolsheviks in 1918, the year after he abdicated the Russian throne.

After they were killed, the royals were buried in mineshafts by revolutionaries in the Urals.

Investigator Vladimir Solovyov said the exhumation had taken place and included 'taking samples from Nicholas II, from the empress'.

In recent years, some Orthodox leaders have questioned whether the remains really are the tsar and his family, despite DNA evidence confirming links to living Romanov relatives, including the Duke of Edinburgh.

'It is necessary to carry out the exhumation of remains of the Emperor Nicholas II and the Empress Alexandra Fyodorovna located in Peter and Paul's Cathedral in St Petersburg,' said a statement from Russia's Investigative Committee, which oversees serious criminal cases.

The move came in an attempt to persuade the Russian Orthodox Church that bones buried in St Petersburg in 1998 are those of the tragic tsar and his wife

Tsar Nicholas II was buried at the church in St Peturburg 80 years after his death. Pictured is his funeral

Further DNA tests will be conducted involving other royals relatives.

But the move will be seen as deepening the tragedy of a royal family that once ruled the vast Russian empire.

Scientists are certain that the correct bones were buried in a ceremony in which Prince Michael of Kent represented the Queen in 1998.

Bone fragments of 13 year old heir Alexey and his 19 year old sister Maria were found later in a separate grave.

They have lain in cardboard boxes in the Russian State Archive in recent years.

Critics saw it as the final indignity for a boy born to be tsar who was deprived of his throne by the two Russian revolutions of 1917.

The royals were shot dead despite their hopes that they could be exiled to Britain.

Victims: After being shot dead by the Bolsheviks, the remains of the 50 year old Tsar (centre) his empress Alexandra, 46, and three of their children Olga, 22, (far left) Tatyana, 21, (far right) and Anastasia, 17, (third from right) were thrown into a mineshaft near Yekaterinburg. Bone fragments of 13 year old heir Alexey (second from right) and his 19 year old sister Maria (second from left) were found later in a separate grave

Empress Alexandra brought ridicule on the Romanov dynasty due to her friendship with 'crazed monk' Grigory Rasputin (pictured). He became an influential figure in Saint Petersburg due to his links with the family

Vladimir Putin's prime minister Dmitry Medvedev has led efforts to give them a civilised burial 97 years after they were shot dead, but this will only now happen after the next forensic tests.

The remains of the 50 year old tsar, his empress Alexandra, 46, and three of their children Olga, 22, Tatyana, 21, and Anastasia, 17, were thrown into a mineshaft near Yekaterinburg in July 1918 in a separate site from where Alexey and Maria were buried.

Tiny fragments of bone identified as belonging to Alexey and Maria were found in 2007, 16 years after the other bones were dug up.

If the matter is settled, the tragic family will be reunited in the crypt of the iconic gold-spired Peter and Paul Fortress, burial place of the Romanovs, in a ceremony later this year.