The Bolshevik leader of Petrograd, Grigory Zinoviev, decided to send the male members of the Romanov family into internal Russian exile. Fearing the eventual occupation of Petrograd by the Germans, they moved the capital to Moscow. Dmitry was offered a choice for exile: Vologda, Olonets, or Vyatka. He chose Vologda, the closest city to the former Imperial Capital. On 18 April, Dmitry, carrying a suitcase and in the company of his niece, Princess Tatiana, her two children, the children's nanny, and his Adjutant Colonel Korochentzov, boarded a train and left Petrograd for exile.