Peter escaped from Russia in February 1918 with the aid of the British agents Ranald MacDonell and Edward Noel. He was provided with the passport of Reverend Jesse Yonan, an American missionary, and travelled in disguise from Tbilisi to Baku on the Transcaucasus Railway. They travelled on a train escorted by 10,000 armed troops of the Bolshevik Red Army. Noel's involvement in this came to light when he was held captive by the Jangalis in March 1918, and was used to pressurise MacDonell, then in Baku, to desist from trying to topple the Baku Commune.