Dmitri II of Russia, born Dmitri Dmitrievich Romanov, was the twentieth Tsar of Russia, and the second Tsar of the reformed Russian Empire.
Throughout his reign, Dmitri sought to bring economic and political reforms from the newly-reformed empire in hopes of allowing the country to remain stable. The son of Dmitri I, the so-called "Redeemer of Russia", Dmitri II was expected to be as good, if not better than his father in terms of ruling his country. One thing Dmitri did excel at was reparing relations with the United States, who weren't the biggest fan of the Soviet Union, nor were they big fans of Dmitri I's alliance with Nazi Germany. Throughout his reign, he faced three assassination attempts, and was killed by his own sister in 1989.
Dmitri attended the American-Russian Convention of 1969, which dealt with repairing relations between the two; which resulted in the Great Peace. He also supported the proposition of rebuilding Germany and, is possible, give the country some partial independence. This move was very controversial, and sparked many protests to have the young Tsar deposed of in favour of his sister, who was very much against Germany and opposed any sort of rebuilding effort. Despite all of his attempts, Dmitri was a very controversial and somewhat disliked figure during his reign. He is considered the reason why Russia never truly expanded, and why troops failed in immediately ending the revolts in the Baltic region. Despite all of his flaws, Dmitri was by no means a "bad" leader. He continued his father's economic and domestic policies and actually put together a highly-skilled and modernized army.
Yet, in Dmitri's final days, he was betrayed by his own family and supporters. The August Crisis began in the summer of 1989 and resulted in a large-scale revolt in Petrograd. Dmitri, fearing another communist revolt, ordered his troops to pacify the rioting individuals. This lowered public opinion of Dmitri and, after his most loyal soldiers turned against him, he fled to Moscow. Here, he was murdered by his own sister and an unknown accomplice. With only one son, the five-month-old Nikolai, his sister was placed in charge of the country. A longtime supporter of Dmitri II, Vladimir Putin, Chief of Staff of the General Headquarters, found his sister guilty of conspiracy and had her deposed, exiling her to Siberia, where she remained until her death in 1995. Vladimir Putin served as the de-facto Tsar from 1989 to 2009, when he handed power over to Nicholas II.
He is buried at the Peter and Paul Cathedral in Petrograd with his father and mother.