By 1984 he was the Chief Political Officer of the Soviet Navy. At an unspecified point, his niece Natalia Ramius died due to complications from ovarian cancer. Her untimely death and the callousness of the Soviet establishment towards its sailors eventually led Natalia's husband Captain First Rank Marko Ramius to defect from the USSR. Ramius sent a leter to Padorin stating his intention to defect to the United States and that he was not joking.
