In 1865, as captain, he took up service with the Karachai, where he learned the local language, the local customs, abolished serfdom, organized schools for gifted children, and even helped Muslims make their pilgrimage.[1]
In the early 1870s, when he was just a colonel, he was active in Turkey. He called the Ottoman Empire "rascals and thieves," because they had been merely enslaving exploiters of "Khivans, Bokharans, Persians."[3] On the other hand, he also criticized the Russian Army for barbarism and cruelty, writing...
"...[the Russian Army was ordered to] tie the captives to the city walls and begin shooting them at a distance of 300 paces. It should be clear enough that the regular infantry... could not manage to hit the targets... subjecting the unfortunate Turkmens to the torments of hell."[4]
Petrusevich also acted in a scientific capacity for the Russian Army, surveying the northern Afghanistan border.[5]
