The ashes of Grand Duke Nicholas Nikolaevich, first cousin of Russia's last Emperor Nicholas II, and his wife Anastasia have been brought to the Memorial Park Complex of WWI Heroes in Moscow today. Nicholas Nikolayevich was born in 1856. He became the commander-in-chief of the Russian army at the start of WWI, keeping the post until August 1915, when Nicholas II ordered that he head the Caucasus Viceroyalty and the Caucasian Army.
He crushed the Austro-Hungarian forces at the Battle of Galicia in 1914, captured Peremushl in 1915, had successful operations on the Caucasus Front. On March 9, 1917, he resigned. In March 1919, he migrated from Russia to Antibes (France), where he died on January 5, 1929.
At first, he was buried at the St. Archangel Michael Church in Cannes. A plane delivered his ashes to Russia on April 27. The last respects were paid at the Don Monastery on April 28-29. The Patriarch of Moscow and All-Russia, Kirill, reminded about the Great Patriotic War and WWI as a tragedy for many nations. Tens of millions of people died, according to the Patriarch.
