According to newspaper reports, Aldridge intended to begin his new tour in St. Petersburg in May 1862, while the American Civil War was raging. He evidently went there in the expectation or hope of securing an engagement, but he was prevented from performing anywhere in the city. Perhaps the public controversy over his dismissal from the St. Petersburg stage in January 1859 was partly the reason he was now being denied an opportunity to appear again. Since V. F. Adlerberg, the official who had dismissed him, was still the minister of the imperial court who controlled administration of the city's theaters, he alone could have barred Aldridge's reengagement.

However, there may have been a deeper political reason for authorities in St. Petersburg to ban Aldridge in 1862 and later in 1864 and 1867 as well. Aldridge had originally arrived in St. Petersburg when Tsar Alexander II was proposing emancipation of the serfs and other social reforms. By March 1861 legislation had been passed granting personal freedom to 10 million male peasants and their families, but this measure drew discontent and opposition from landed gentry in the years that followed. Aldridge, given his background, was immediately perceived as a symbol of the liberation struggle. As K. I. Zvantsov remarked on first seeing him perform as Othello in St. Petersburg in 1858,

Also, Aldridge's close relationship with Taras Shevchenko, a serf who was a strong advocate for social change, reinforced the perception of him as a revolutionary figure and certainly contributed to the backlash against him by opponents of reform in later years.