His memoir Russia, My Native Land recounted his experiences as a boy and young man in Russia, where he served in the military during World War I. Tschebotarioff was born in Pavlovsk, Russia, the son of Porphyry Grigorievich Chebotarev (1873–1920), an officer of the Don Cossack Guard Battery stationed at Pavlovsk, and his wife Valentina Ivanovna, the daughter of a former Army doctor.
His mother, Valentina Ivanovna Chebotareva, served as a Red Cross nurse at a hospital in Tsarskoye Selo, Russia with Tsarina Alexandra.
Tschebotarioff published his mother's wartime journal in Russia, My Native Land and in other publications.
Following the Russian Revolution of 1917 and his parents' deaths a few years apart from typhus, Tschebotarioff was left responsible for his younger sister Valentina.
He eventually arranged for the young girl to be cared for by her godmother, Baroness Sophie von Medem, in Germany.