Donets-Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic

The Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic or Donetsk–Kryvyi Rih Soviet Republic was a self-declared Soviet republic of the Russian SFSR founded on 12 February 1918. It was founded three days after the government of Ukraine signed the treaty with the Germans, which recognised the borders of the Ukrainian People's Republic. The republic was never viewed as a separate entity by anyone except for members of the self proclaimed republic. The interest in the republic and its autonomous status was revived with the appearance of the Ukrainian political party Donetsk Republic in 2005 led by Andrei Purgin.

The Donetsk–Krivoy Rog Soviet Republic claimed the territories south of the neighbouring Ukrainian People's Republic, which included the Donbass, Kharkov, Yekaterinoslav, and part of the Kherson Governorates. In the beginning, the republic's capital was the city of Kharkov, but later with the retreat of the Red Guard it was moved to Luhansk. The Soviet government of Russia supported it as the existence of the state set anarchy in the region. The newly created government challenged the authority of the General Secretariat of Ukraine and the People's Secretariat. Some of the commissars held positions as secretaries in another Bolshevik government in Ukraine, the People's Secretariat.

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