Piotr Chikhachev (1808-1890), a prominent 19th century geographer, geologist and explorer of Altai, Asia Minor, Italy, Spain, and North Africa, spent most of his life abroad and became a de facto expatriate. His works remained virtually unpublished in Russia until the second half of the 20th century. Simplistic views on the nature of his political emigration and his informal collaboration with the Russian Ministry of Foreign Relations now require reconsideration. The Foreign Ministry assisted Chikhachev in acquiring professional education in the natural sciences and also in his explorations, during which he fulfilled some special government assignments. Chikhachev formally resigned from state service and left Russia in 1838 with the approval of higher authorities. During the period between 1839 and the mid 1850’s, while ostensibly an emigre, he maintained connections with Russian ministries. In the situation following the Anglo-Chinese war of 1840-42, he traveled in the Altay and Sayan mountains in the role of an independent explorer, but he was in fact funded by the Russian government and accompanied by a military topographer. In 1847-63 he traveled in the territory of Russia’s strategic rival, the Turkish Empire, and produced a major 8-volume work Asie Mineure while also communicating important cartographic and statistical data to Russia. Chikhachev’s emigration became more real during the subsequent reign of Alexander II, as reflected in a series of his publications on the Eastern question and other problems of European politics in which he held the Nicolas II regime responsible for the defeat in the Crimean war.