24 November to 2 December 1920, Kanayan was the Defence Minister of Armenia. On 30 November 1920, Soviet Russia issued an ultimatum to the leadership of Armenia to peacefully hand over power to a Soviet government. Dro was authorized to negotiate with Soviet representative Boris Legran about the conditions of the transfer of power. Dro ordered the Armenian army not to show resistance against the Red Army if it advanced into Armenia. He was one of the signatories of the declaration of the transfer of power to a Soviet government made by the government of Armenia on 2 December 1920, which also declared Dro de facto leader of Armenia pending the arrival of the Revolutionary Committee of Armenia to Yerevan. Dro remained in the country and remained commander of Soviet Armenia's army until January 1921, when he was exiled to Russia along with 1,200 Armenian officers. He stayed in Moscow until 1923, and traveled in Europe before finally settling in Bucharest, Romania in 1925. Dro's second wife, Arpenik (whom he married in 1915), and their two children were sent into internal exile in Siberia and remained separated from him for the rest of his life. World War II During World War II, Dro was one of several members of the ARF who, without approval from the party leadership, entered negotiations with Nazi Germany with the hope of freeing Armenia of Soviet control in the event of Germany's victory over the Soviet Union. The Armenian Legion was formed from Armenian POWs in the Nazi POW camps who opted to fight for Germany rather than face the brutal conditions of the camps. The Legion was placed under Dro's command. The Legion was trained by Wehrmacht officers and participated in the occupation of the Crimean Peninsula and the Caucasus. According to Joris Versteeg, the total number of Armenians serving in the German armed forces during the war was 18,000: 11,000 were placed in field battalions, while 7,000 were placed in logistic and non-combat units. Ailsby puts the number at 11,600. With the end of World War II, Drastamat Kanayan was arrested by American forces in Heidelberg, but soon released. After World War II, Kanayan emigrated to the United States and continued his political activities. In 1947, at the World Congress of the ARF, he was forgiven for his collaboration with Nazis and was again elected a member of the party. Death, burial, and