The Burenin family owned a mansion in Kirjasalo near the border between Russia and its autonomous part Grand Duchy of Finland. It was used for smuggling weapons and illegal literature across the border and for organizing border crossings for delegates of the 4th and 5th Congress of the Russian Social Democratic Labour Party. Transports arrived at the Roshchino railway station where they were picked by Burenin and his associates. He was also organizing underground printing presses and warehouses for propaganda literature, arranged safe houses and raised funds for the revolutionary action. Burenin was involved with the 1905 attempt to smuggle arms for the Finnish resistance with steamboat John Grafton and the 1906 robbery of Russian State Bank branch in Helsinki.