Far Eastern Republic

thumb|The Far Eastern Republic banknote of 1,000 rubles (1920)

The Far Eastern Republic (; ), sometimes called the Chita Republic (), was a nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the Russian Far East and Transbaikal. Although nominally independent, it largely came under the control of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR), which envisaged it as a buffer state between the RSFSR and the territories occupied by Japan during the Russian Civil War of 1917–1922. The Far Eastern Republic came to an end in November 1922 when it voluntarily merged with the RSFSR, which became one of founding members of the Soviet Union the following month. Its first president was Alexander Krasnoshchyokov.

The Far Eastern Republic occupied the territory of modern Zabaykalsky Krai, Amur Oblast, the Jewish Autonomous Oblast, Khabarovsk Krai, and Primorsky Krai of Russia (the former Transbaikal and Amur oblasts and Primorsky krai). Its capital was established at Verkhneudinsk (now Ulan-Ude), but in October 1920 it moved to Chita.

The Red Army occupied Vladivostok on 25 October 1922. Three weeks later, on 15 November 1922, the Far Eastern Republic merged with the RSFSR.

History

Establishment

The Far Eastern Republic was established in the later stages of the Russian Civil War. During the Civil War local authorities generally controlled the towns and cities of the Russian Far East, cooperating to a greater or lesser extent with the White Siberian government of Alexander Kolchak and with the succeeding invading forces of the Japanese Army. When the Japanese evacuated the Trans-Baikal and Amur oblasts in the spring of 1920, a political vacuum resulted.

A new central authority was established at Chita to govern the Far Eastern Republic remaining in the Japanese wake. The Far Eastern Republic was established comprising only the area around Verkhneudinsk, but during the summer of 1920, the Soviet government of the Amur territory agreed to join.

The Far Eastern Republic was formed two months after Kolchak's death with the tacit support of the government of Soviet Russia, which saw it as a temporary buffer state between the RSFSR and the territories occupied by Japan. Many members of the Russian Communist Party had disagreed with the decision to allow a new government in the region, believing that their approximately 4,000 members were capable of seizing power in their own right. However, Vladimir Lenin and other party leaders in Moscow felt that the approximately 70,000 Japanese and 12,000 American troops might regard such an action as a provocation, which might spur a further attack that the Soviet Republic could ill afford. This detail did not change the basic equation for the Bolshevik government in Moscow, however, which continued to see the establishment of a Far Eastern Republic as a sort of Treaty of Brest-Litovsk in the east, providing the regime with a necessary breathing space that would allow it to recover economically and militarily.

On 6 April 1920, a hastily convened Constituent Assembly gathered at Verkhneudinsk and proclaimed the establishment of the Far Eastern Republic. Promises were made that the republic's new constitution would guarantee free elections under the principles of universal, direct, and equal suffrage and that foreign investment in the country would be encouraged.

Japan agreed to recognize the new buffer state in a truce with the Red Army signed on 15 July 1920, effectively abandoning Ataman Grigory Semenov and his Russia Eastern Outskirts.

in the Primorskaya Oblast. Shortly after the coup, Kolchak's designated successor, Ataman Semenov, arrived in Vladivostok and attempted to proclaim himself commander-in-chief—an effort which failed when his Japanese benefactors forsook him.

The new Provisional Government of the Priamur attempted—with little success—to rally the various anti-Bolshevik forces to its banner. Its leaders, two Vladivostok businessmen—the brothers Spiridon Merkulov and —found themselves left isolated when the Japanese Army announced on 24 June 1922 that it would remove all of its troops from Siberia by the end of October.

Government

Chairmen of the Government (heads of state)

Alexander Krasnoshchyokov 6 April 1920 – December 1921
Nikolay Matveyev December 1921 – 15 November 1922

Chairmen of the Council of Ministers (Prime Ministers)

Alexander Krasnoshchyokov 6 April 1920 – November 1920
Boris Shumyatsky November 1920 – April 1921
Pyotr Nikiforov 8 May 1921 – December 1921
Nikolay Matveyev December 1921 – 14 November 1922
Pyotr Kobozev 14 November 1922 – 15 November 1922

List of Cabinet

Cabinet of Alexander Krasnoshchyokov:

Alexander Krasnoshchyokov – Chairman of the Government (Prime Minister)
Nikolai Matveyev – Foreign Affairs
Boris Shumyatsky – Internal Affairs
Alexander Arosev – Military Affairs
Vasily Yakovlev – Transport
Ivan Smirnov – Finance

Cabinet of Boris Shumyatsky:

Boris Shumyatsky – Chairman of the Government
Nikolai Matveyev – Foreign Affairs
Alexander Arosev – Military Affairs
Konstantin Mekhonoshin – War / Armed Forces
Ivan Smirnov – Finance
Vasily Yakovlev – Transport

Cabinet of Pyotr Nikiforov

Pyotr Nikiforov – Chairman of the Government
Nikolai Matveyev – Foreign Affairs
Konstantin Mekhonoshin – Military / War Affairs
Ivan Smirnov – Finance
Vasily Yakovlev – Transport
Boris Shumyatsky – Internal Affairs

Prominent people born in the Far Eastern Republic

Yul Brynner (11 July 1920 – 10 October 1985), actor