Leonid Ivanovich Sednev was a chef's assistant who, together with his uncle Ivan Dmitriyevich Sednev, served former Emperor Nicholas II of Russia and his family during their exile in Siberian villages of Tobolsk and Yekaterinburg from 1917 to 1918. Six hours before the Imperial family and their four retainers were murdered in the cellar of the Ipatiev House on the night of July 16/17, 1918, Sednev was taken to a neighboring house, where he was held until July 20. Officials from the Ural Regional Soviet then shipped him off to live with relatives in Kaluga.