The Tuvan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (; ), or the Tuvan ASSR (; ), was an

autonomous republic An autonomous republic is a type of administrative division similar to a province or state. A significant number of autonomous republics can be found within the successor states of the Soviet Union, but the majority are located within Russia. Ma ...

of the

Russian SFSR The Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (Russian SFSR or RSFSR), previously known as the Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic and the Russian Soviet Republic, and unofficially as Soviet Russia,Declaration of Rights of the labo ...

. It was created on 10 October 1961 from the

Tuvan Autonomous Oblast The Tuvan Autonomous Oblast was an autonomous oblast of the Soviet Union, created on 11 October 1944 following the annexation of the Tuvan People's Republic by the Soviet Union. On 10 October 1961, it was transformed into the Tuvan Autonomous ...

. Its territory measured 175,000 square kilometers and bordered

Mongolia Mongolia is a landlocked country in East Asia, bordered by Russia to the north and China to the south and southeast. It covers an area of , with a population of 3.5 million, making it the world's List of countries and dependencies by po ...

to the south, Buryat ASSR to the east,

Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast The Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast () was an autonomous oblast of the Soviet Union, inhabited by the Altai people. Formed as the Oyrot Autonomous Oblast () in 1922, it was later renamed in 1948. It was upgraded into an ASSR in 1990, shortly bef ...

to the west and

Khakas Autonomous Oblast The Khakas Autonomous Oblast (, ), abbreviated as Khakas AO (, ) or KhAO (, ), was part of the 1934 created Krasnoyarsk Krai within the Russian SFSR, Soviet Union. Until 1991, Khakas Autonomous Oblast was administratively subordinated to Krasno ...

to the north.Mongush, Mergen. “The Annexation of Tannu‐Tuva and the Formation of the Tuva ASSR.” ''Central Asian Survey'' 12, no. 1 (1993): 81–85. https://doi.org/10.1080/02634939308400802. p.81

History

The Tuvan ASSR was awarded the

Order of Lenin The Order of Lenin (, ) was an award named after Vladimir Lenin, the leader of the October Revolution. It was established by the Central Executive Committee on 6 April 1930. The order was the highest civilian decoration bestowed by the Soviet ...

on 9 October 1964 to commemorate its 20th anniversary of its incorporation into the Soviet Union, as well as the

Order of Friendship of Peoples The Order of Friendship of Peoples () was an order of the Soviet Union, and was awarded to persons (including non-citizens), organizations, enterprises, military units, as well as administrative subdivisions of the USSR for accomplishments in s ...

on 29 December 1972 to honor the 50th anniversary of the USSR.''The Great Soviet Encyclopedia'', 3rd Edition. S.v. "Tuva Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic." The highest organ of government in the Tuvan ASSR was the Supreme Soviet of the Tuvan ASSR, made up of 130 deputies on five-year terms.

Dissolution

1990 saw the beginning of ethnic clashes between minority Russians and majority Tuvans, although according to Estonian politician and writer Toomas Alatalu, the magnitude of these attacks were largely exaggerated by the Russian media. This came as a result of numerous policies alienating the indigenous population in favor of the minority Russian population, such as the policy of the compulsory admittance of sons of cattle-raisers' children to Russian boarding schools. According to Alatalu, Tuva had become a bastion of Soviet Conservatism fueled by the strong partocracy which had grown within the small republic, despite ethnic tensions. The Tuvan elections of 1990 was the first time since the incorporation of Tuva into the USSR that all three positions of power within the Tuvan administration were held by ethnic Tuvans. The

1991 Russian presidential election Presidential elections were held in the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (RSFSR) on 12 June 1991.Dieter Nohlen & Philip Stöver (2010) ''Elections in Europe: A data handbook'', p1642 This was the first ever Russian presidential ele ...

saw Tuva being one of the few autonomous republics to overwhelmingly vote for the Communist Party candidate

Nikolai Ryzhkov Nikolai Ivanovich Ryzhkov (; ; 28 September 1929 – 28 February 2024) was a Russian politician. He served as the last Premier of the Soviet Union, chairman of the Council of Ministers of the Soviet Union from 1985 to 1991 and was succeeded b ...

, with 65% of the vote going to Ryzhkov and 15% for

Boris Yeltsin Boris Nikolayevich Yeltsin (1 February 1931 – 23 April 2007) was a Soviet and Russian politician and statesman who served as President of Russia from 1991 to 1999. He was a member of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union (CPSU) from 1961 to ...

. In 1991 a democratic coalition of forces, including youth leaders and intellectuals, initiated a hunger strike on 27 August, demanding the resignation of the republic's leadership. On 28 August, a meeting of Parliament was called, where Chimit-Dorzhu Ondar, then Chairman of the Supreme Soviet, resigned, and all property of the Communist Party was absorbed by the government. This action led to the dissolution of the Tuvan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic. On 31 March 1992, its successor, the

Tuva Republic Tuva (; ) or Tyva (; ), officially the Republic of Tyva,; , is a republic of Russia. Tuva lies at the geographical center of Asia, in southern Siberia. The republic borders the federal subjects of the Altai Republic, Buryatia, Irkutsk ...

, became a constituent member of the

Russian Federation Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

Economy

The Tuvan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic's economy was mostly composed of two primary sectors, agriculture and mineral extraction, its principal crops were wheat and barley. In contrast to largely indigenous agriculture, Tuvan industry was largely fueled by Russian immigrant labour.

Demographics

Despite Russian immigration and the education system both secondary and post-secondary being carried out almost exclusively in Russian by the 1990s, Tuvans remained the largest ethnicity in Tuva (approximately 206,000 residents were of Tuvan ethnicity, and 98,000 were of Russian ethnicity in 1990. For much of its existence, the Tuvan Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic was home to numerous prison camps as well as labor colonies.

Notes

Works cited