His later assignments in the Soviet Union were with the People's Commissariat for Military and Naval Affairs and Revolutionary Military Council from June 1933 to June 1935 and with the People's Commissariat for Foreign Affairs from June 1935 to June 1936, and he was appointed deputy chief of the 9th Department of the Red Army's Intelligence Directorate (responsible for information concerning Mongolia and Xinjiang) until May 1939. The Intelligence Directorate's 9th Department became the Red Army General Staff's Department of Special Tasks, with Sorkin selected to serve as acting head from May 1939 to February 1941.
