Ulanovsky was given a fake Czech passport and the pseudonym "Kirschner", under which he was to pose as a metal salesman on his way to China and offer his services as a representative to western business interests.

[3] His offer was taken up by the Schelder Consortium, a Dutch company seeking to circumvent the Treaty of Versailles so they could send German weapons to China.

[4] On the way to China, Ulanovsky got drunk with a group of British members of the Shanghai Municipal Police and told them of his scheme to sell German arms to the Chinese market, jeopardising his mission.

[9] In the spring of 1930, Ulanovsky recruited the agent Rafail Kurgan, who managed to bribe a secretary in the Nationalist government to hand over information on audits of Chinese generals and contracts with western companies.

[11] In 1931, Ulanovsky arrived in New York City, where he replaced Moishe Stern as station chief of the local branch of the Main Intelligence Directorate (GRU).

[17] Following his return to the Soviet Union, Ulanovsky was incarcerated in a Gulag, where he read many history books, particularly taking interest in the Khazar Khaganate.