In Constantinople since the defeat of the November Uprising in 1831 Polish voluntary units were formed. It was where Michał Czajkowski (1804-1886), aka Mehmet Sadyk Pasha worked for the Polish cause, and Adam Mickiewicz (1798-1855) died during the mission to form Polish legions. This movement was gaining strength and attracted more and more Polish emigrants. Andriolli arrived in Constantinople in 1865, and then along with Tomasz Gregutowicz set out to Podolia to search for volunteers for the legions.

Betrayed by a guide, Andriolli and his companion were imprisoned in the Khotyn Fortress. The prisoners broke the bars in the window at night and climbed out of the cell on a rope made of sheets. Gregutowicz managed to escape, unfortunately Andriolli was caught, tortured and sent to Vilnius. There in 1868 the court-martial passed a judgement in which he was accused of “armed participation in an uprising, acting as a commissioner of revolutionary authorities to the Kaunas governorate, and finally illegally breaking through into Poland as an emissary”. It was decided to “deprive the political criminal Elwiro Andriolli of all rights and deport him to hard labour for a period of 15 years”. He was saved from this sentence by the intercession of the Vilnius governor’s wife, whose favour he gained through a flattering portrait, which Andriolli managed to paint and deliver. This did not protect him from punishment, but the sentence was significantly reduced and turned into exile to Vyatka (now Kirov) in the European part of Russia.

He arrived there under escort in September 1868. Although he was placed under police surveillance, he could live and work in a relatively normal way. He earned a living by selling a huge number of small, inexpensive drawings. After gaining popularity, he began to paint portraits of local celebrities, which brought him considerable income. He also gave drawing lessons. One of his students was Anna Bilińska (1854-1893), who gained recognition as a portraitist. In Vyatka Andriolli was recommended to the influential Orthodox clergyman (Archpriest) Apolls by Adam Stanisław Krasiński (1810-1891), Bishop of Vilnius, who was exiled from Vilnius. Thanks to these recommendations, after checking his skills, he began to receive well-paid commissions. He renovated almost all Orthodox churches in the region and painted many icons. He became known there as an extraordinary man, urbane , sociable and extremely hardworking. He received so many commissions that he did not have time to complete them during his stay, reduced by the amnesty on the occasion of the birthday of Grand Duke Yuri Alexandrovich, announced on 12 May 1871.

He returned to Vyatka for several months in the summer of 1872, already as a free man, to paint a number of large religious paintings commissioned earlier by the Orthodox churches.