In January 1919, he was arrested in Irkutsk by Admiral Kolchak's forces, but managed to escape from prison. At the end of March of the same year, Tryapitsyn arrived in Vladivostok, where he joined an underground organization consisting of port loaders, who stocked up weapons and recruited volunteers to fight the Japanese interventionists supporting the White Movement. Under the leadership of Tryapitsyn, a raid was carried out on the Vladivostok military garrison depot, after which, fearing persecution, he fled with other underground workers into the taiga.