Leon Trotsky, the new People's Commissar for Foreign Affairs, asked Neratov to subordinate to the Council of People's Commissars and to hand over the secret documents from the diplomatic archives of the foreign ministry. Neratov refused and was eventually deposed and replaced by Ivan Zalkind in November 1917.[9][10][11] The secret documents were confiscated and published, however, in January 1918 Neratov claimed that some of these published documents were nothing more than insignificant notices or even forgeries.[12] During the Russian Civil War Nerotov advised the "White" movement[5] – first Anton Ivanovich Denikin[13], then, from 1920, Denikin's successor Pyotr Nikolayevich Wrangel. Wrangel finally sent Neratov as his ambassador to Istanbul[1] to get support from the Entente.