Narrowly escaping capture and assassination by the Ochrana several times even before the start of the war, Akashi relocated to Helsinki in late 1904. He traveled extensively to Stockholm, Warsaw, Geneva, Lisbon, Paris, Rome, Copenhagen, Zurich, and even Irkutsk. Akashi helped funnel funds and arms to selected groups of Russian anarchists, secessionists in Finland and Poland, and disaffected Moslem groups in the Crimea and Russian Turkestan. Akashi met with Konni Zilliacus in Stockholm as well as Lenin, then in exile in Switzerland. It is widely believed in Japan that Akashi was behind the assassination of Russian Interior Minister Vyacheslav von Plehve (whom many in Japan held responsible for the war); as well as supporting Father George Gapon, who had organized the Bloody Sunday Uprising and the Potemkin Mutiny. General Yamagata Aritomo reported to Emperor Meiji that Colonel Akashi was worth "more than 10 divisions of troops in Manchuria" toward Japan winning the war. Akashi was promoted to colonel at age 40.