Grand Duchess Tatiana Nikolaevna of Russia in the context of Home detention

Nicholas II (Nikolai Alexandrovich Romanov; 18 May [O.S. 6 May] 1868 – 17 July 1918) was Emperor of Russia, King of Congress Poland, and Grand Duke of Finland from 1 November 1894 until his abdication in 1917. His reign of over 22 years marked the final chapter of the Romanov dynasty, which had ruled Russia for more than three centuries. Nicholas married Alix of Hesse (later Alexandra Feodorovna), and they had five children: four daughters, Olga, Tatiana, Maria, and Anastasia, and a son, Alexei, the Tsesarevich.

Born in Tsarskoye Selo, Nicholas was the eldest son of Emperor Alexander III and Empress Maria Feodorovna. He was educated privately and trained for military service, but was widely considered ill-prepared for the demands of ruling a vast empire. As a constitutional monarch, he resisted political reform and retained autocratic control, despite the establishment of the Duma. His reign saw significant industrial growth and diplomatic engagement, including the Hague Conventions and the Anglo-Russian Convention of 1907, but was also marked by domestic unrest, military defeats, and widespread criticism.

House arrest (also called home confinement, or nowadays electronic monitoring) is a legal measure where a person is required to remain at their residence under supervision, typically as an alternative to imprisonment. The person is confined by the authorities to their residence. Travel is usually restricted and may require prior approval.

Since the introduction of electronic tagging, a person under house arrest may be monitored electronically, and their movements are typically tracked. House arrest is also used in some cases for individuals convicted of minor offenses. In certain situations, such as in authoritarian regimes, house arrest may be used to restrict the freedom of political dissidents against political governments, sometimes limiting or monitoring their communication with the outside world. If electronic communication is allowed, conversations may be monitored. There is much criticism of the effectiveness of house arrest.

Grand Duchess Anastasia Nikolaevna of Russia (Russian: Анастасия Николаевна Романова, romanized: Anastasiya Nikolaevna Romanova; 18 June [O.S. 5 June] 1901 – 17 July 1918) was the youngest daughter of Tsar Nicholas II, the last sovereign of Imperial Russia, and his wife, Tsarina Alexandra Feodorovna.

Anastasia was the younger sister of Grand Duchesses Olga, Tatiana, and Maria (commonly known together as the OTMA sisters) and was the elder sister of Alexei Nikolaevich, Tsarevich of Russia. She was murdered with her family by a group of Bolsheviks in Yekaterinburg on 17 July 1918.

The abdicated Russian Imperial Romanov family (Tsar Nicholas II of Russia, his wife Alexandra Feodorovna, and their five children: Olga, Tatiana, Maria, Anastasia, and Alexei) were shot and stabbed to death by Bolshevik revolutionaries under Yakov Yurovsky on the orders of the Ural Regional Soviet in Yekaterinburg on the night of 16–17 July 1918. Also killed that night were members of the imperial entourage who had accompanied them: court physician Eugene Botkin; lady-in-waiting Anna Demidova; footman Alexei Trupp; and head cook Ivan Kharitonov. The bodies were taken to the Koptyaki forest, where they were stripped, mutilated with grenades and acid to prevent identification, and buried.

Following the February Revolution in 1917, the Romanovs and their servants had been imprisoned in the Alexander Palace before being moved to Tobolsk, Siberia, in the aftermath of the October Revolution. They were next moved to a house in Yekaterinburg, near the Ural Mountains, before their execution in July 1918. The Bolsheviks initially announced only Nicholas's death. For the next eight years, the Soviet leadership maintained a systematic web of disinformation regarding his family, making claims ranging from murder by left-wing revolutionaries in September 1919, to outright denial of their deaths in April 1922.

OTMA was an acronym sometimes used by the four daughters of Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and his consort, Alexandra Feodorovna, as a group nickname for themselves, built from the first letter of each girl's name in the order of their births:

• Ольга – Olga Nikolaevna Romanova (15 November 1895 – 17 July 1918) was the eldest daughter.
• Татьяна – Tatiana Nikolaevna Romanova (10 June 1897 – 17 July 1918) was the second daughter.
• Мария – Maria Nikolaevna Romanova (26 June 1899 – 17 July 1918) was the third daughter.
• Анастасия – Anastasia Nikolaevna Romanova (18 June 1901 – 17 July 1918) was the youngest daughter.

Note that the Roman and Cyrillic forms of all four of the initial letters are identical in printed form.