Donets-Krivoi Rog Soviet Republic

proclaimed by the Fourth Oblast Congress of the Soviets of Workers’ Deputies of the Donets-Krivoi Rog basin, which was held in Kharkov on Feb. 12, 1918. The republic included the territories of the Donets and Krivoi Rog basins (Kherson Province), Kharkov Province and Ekaterinoslav Province, and it was part of the RSFSR.

On Feb. 14, 1918, a republic council of people’s commissars was formed to act as the government. The chairman of the council was Artem (F. A. Sergeev), and the people’s commissars were S. F. Vasil’chenko (administration), V. I. Mezhlauk (finances), B. I. Magidov (labor), M. P. Zhakov (public education), V. F. Filov (administration of justice), M. L. Rukhimovich (military affairs), and A. Z. Kamenskii (state control). As part of its organization of defense against the German occupying troops that were attacking the Ukraine, the government of the Donets-Krivoi Rog Soviet Republic sent the German command a note of protest against the invasion of the republic, arguing that it was not a part of the Ukraine. However, by May 1918, German troops had captured the territory of the Donets-Krivoi Rog Soviet Republic, and the republic ceased to exist.