Grigori Efimovich Rasputin (1871 - 1916), Russian monk in the household of Czar Nicholas II. Despite his notoriously bad reputation, Rasputin wielded power at the court through his influence over the Czarina. The statesmen and ministers who tried to oppose him were removed from their posts; those who remained were his tools. Rasputin was assassinated by a group of Russian nobles in December 1916. His constitution was tough: a generous dose of poison failed to produce any visible effect, and the terrified conspirators riddled him with bullets and drowned him in the frozen Neva River for good measure. —ESTO - Hold the Form of the Org, Part II Approved Glossary