The Provisional Priamurye Government or Provisional Priamur Government () existed in the region of Priamurye of the

Russian Far East The Russian Far East ( rus, Дальний Восток России, p=ˈdalʲnʲɪj vɐˈstok rɐˈsʲiɪ) is a region in North Asia. It is the easternmost part of Russia and the Asia, Asian continent, and is coextensive with the Far Easte ...

between May 27, 1921 and June 16, 1923. It was the last Russian State enclave during the

Russian Civil War The Russian Civil War () was a multi-party civil war in the former Russian Empire sparked by the 1917 overthrowing of the Russian Provisional Government in the October Revolution, as many factions vied to determine Russia's political future. I ...

. States and territories disestablished in 1923

History

The government had its origin in a 1921

White Army The White Army, also known as the White Guard, the White Guardsmen, or simply the Whites, was a common collective name for the armed formations of the White movement and Anti-Sovietism, anti-Bolshevik governments during the Russian Civil War. T ...

coup in

Vladivostok Vladivostok ( ; , ) is the largest city and the administrative center of Primorsky Krai and the capital of the Far Eastern Federal District of Russia. It is located around the Zolotoy Rog, Golden Horn Bay on the Sea of Japan, covering an area o ...

and its environs. The coup aimed for the Priamurye region to break away from the

Far Eastern Republic The Far Eastern Republic ( rus, Дальневосточная Республика, Dal'nevostochnaya Respublika, p=dəlʲnʲɪvɐˈstotɕnəjə rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə, links=yes; ), sometimes called the Chita Republic (, ), was a nominally indep ...

and to survive behind a ''cordon sanitaire'' of

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

ese troops involved in the Siberian Intervention. The coup was started on May 23, 1921 by the ''Kappelevtsy'', the remnants of Vladimir Kappel's People's Army of Komuch. The government was headed by the Merkulov brothers: Spiridon Merkulov, a former functionary of the Ministry of Agriculture and head of the Priamurye government; and , a merchant. Both had been deputies of the

State Duma of the Russian Empire The State Duma, also known as the Imperial Duma, was the lower house of the legislature in the Russian Empire, while the upper house was the State Council (Russian Empire), State Council. It held its meetings in the Tauride Palace in Saint Peters ...

and supporters of the 1917

Russian Provisional Government The Russian Provisional Government was a provisional government of the Russian Empire and Russian Republic, announced two days before and established immediately after the abdication of Nicholas II on 2 March, O.S. New_Style.html" ;"title="5 ...

. Somewhat later in 1921 the

Cossack The Cossacks are a predominantly East Slavic Eastern Christian people originating in the Pontic–Caspian steppe of eastern Ukraine and southern Russia. Cossacks played an important role in defending the southern borders of Ukraine and Rus ...

ataman Ataman (variants: ''otaman'', ''wataman'', ''vataman''; ; ) was a title of Cossack and haidamak leaders of various kinds. In the Russian Empire, the term was the official title of the supreme military commanders of the Cossack armies. The Ukra ...

Grigory Semyonov attempted to take power in the Priamurye, but he had no backing from the Japanese and eventually withdrew. The Kappelevtsy and the Semyonovtsy (Semyonov's supporters) despised each other. Gradually the Priamurye enclave was expanded to

Khabarovsk Khabarovsk ( ) is the largest city and the administrative centre of Khabarovsk Krai, Russia,Law #109 located from the China–Russia border, at the confluence of the Amur and Ussuri Rivers, about north of Vladivostok. As of the 2021 Russian c ...

and then to Spassk, 125 miles north of Vladivostok.HAROLD VAN VECHTEN FAY: WITNESS TO JAPAN'S APRIL 1920 OFFENSIVE IN THE RUSSIAN FAR EAST
Reports by Capt Fay are used in the chapter "Ataman's exile and White Russia's last spasms 9 October 1920-November 1922)" of Jamie Bisher's book ''White Terror: Cossack Warlords of the Trans-Siberian'', 2005, . The Merkulovs were deposed in June 1922 by the Priamurye Zemsky Sobor ({{langx , ru, Приамурский Земский Собор) and replaced by one of Admiral

Alexander Kolchak Admiral Alexander Vasilyevich Kolchak (; – 7 February 1920) was a Russian navy officer and polar explorer who led the White movement in the Russian Civil War. As he assumed the title of Supreme Ruler of Russia in 1918, Kolchak headed a mili ...

's generals, Mikhail Diterikhs. In July 1922, a

Zemsky Sobor The ''Zemsky Sobor'' ( rus, зе́мский собо́р, p=ˈzʲemskʲɪj sɐˈbor, t=assembly of the land) was a parliament of the Tsardom of Russia's estates of the realm active during the 16th and 17th centuries. The assembly represented ...

(Приамурский Земский Собор) was convened in the territory. This sobor called all Russian people to repent for the overthrow of the Tsar and proclaimed a new Tsar, Grand Duke Nikolai Nikolayevich. Patriarch Tikhon was named as the honorary chairman of the sobor. Neither the Grand Duke nor the Patriarch was present. The territory was renamed Priamursky Zemsky Krai and Diterikhs styled himself ''voyevoda''. The army was renamed the '' Zemskaya Rat'' ("Territorial Rat'" - the archaic Slavic term ''rat' '' means "military force"). When the Japanese withdrew from the Priamurye (June to October 1922), the Soviet army of the Far Eastern Republic retook most of the Priamurye Government territory. The Ayano-Maysky District was controlled by

Anatoly Pepelyayev Anatoly Nikolayevich Pepelyayev (; , in Tomsk – 14 January 1938) was a White Russian general who led the Siberian armies of Admiral Kolchak during the Russian Civil War. His elder brother Viktor Pepelyayev served as prime minister in ...

at that time; its surrender in June 1923 marked the end of the

Footnotes

References

*Yuri Korolkov,
Sovershenno Sekretno, Pri Opasnosti Szhech
', Minsk: Belarus Publishers, 1986 (memoirs of the doctor Aleksandr Mikulin).

External links

Former countries in East Asia Russian State (1918–1920) Provisional governments of the Russian Civil War History of Northeast Asia States and territories established in 1921 1922 disestablishments Japanese involvement in the Russian Civil War

History

See also

Footnotes

References

External links