On 2 December he handed over Armenia to the Bolsheviks. He subsequently went into hiding, and later emerged as President of the Committee for the Salvation of the Fatherland. He also was President of the short-lived Republic of Armenia after a revolution against the Bolsheviks in February 1921. However, this second republic only lasted around 40 days; he then escaped to Persia with his bodyguards and aides, leaving his wife and child with American Near East Relief worker Dr. Clarence Ussher. He also appealed to Europe and Turkey for assistance against the Bolsheviks. Vratsian then travelled over Europe, settling in Paris to edit the "Droshak" from 1923 to 1925. In 1945 he presented a petition to the UN General Assembly at San Francisco demanding the restoration of Wilsonian Armenia held by Turkey to Armenia.