Aleksei Putilov

His elder son Sergei had previously left for Paris, while the remainder of the family remained at their home in Petrograd at 11 Mytninskaya Embankment.

In his absence, all of Putilov's properties, movable and unmovable, were confiscated by decree of the Council of People's Commissars on 30 December 1917 (12 January 1918).

In the spring of 1918 Putilov's wife Vera, daughter Ekaterina, granddaughter, and younger son Ivan were able to escape to Finland and thence to Paris.

In the meantime, in Harbin Putilov collaborated with Leytenant-General (Lieutenant-General) Dmitry Khorvat, the head of the Chinese Eastern Railway, in maintaining "White" Russian control of the railway and providing financial assistance to the anti-Bolshevik "Armed Forces in the South of Russia," led by General Pyotr Wrangel.

In 1921 he negotiated with Leonid Krasin about the possibility of creating a Soviet-French issuing bank to help the Soviet government carry out monetary reforms.

The bank failed on 26 September 1926 after losing some five million pounds in speculation in the Paris financial market, and was finally liquidated in 1928.