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.

[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.

He initially attempted to explain the lost money as Kurgan's gambling losses, but on 16 July 1930, he admitted to the Soviet bureau that he was being blackmailed.

[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.