His father was a military engineer and he attended the Petersburg Electrotechnical Institute. In 1896, he was arrested for revolutionary activities and imprisoned for several months. After being released, he was allowed to graduate, then exiled to Siberia. He was sent to work at The Lena Goldfields (later the site of the infamous Lena massacre), near Bodaybo. While there, he participated in the construction of hydroelectric facilities and helped wire the goldfields with one of Russia's first high-voltage power lines.