The Far Eastern Republic (Russian: Дальневосточная Республика, romanized: Dal'nevostochnaya Respublika, IPA: [dəlʲnʲɪvɐˈstotɕnəjə rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə]; ДВР, DVR), sometimes called the Chita Republic (Читинская Республика, Chitinskaya Respublika, [tɕɪˈtʲɪnskəjə rʲɪsˈpublʲɪkə]), was a nominally independent state that existed from April 1920 to November 1922 in the easternmost part of the Russian Far East.

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.

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.

[3] 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.

[4] 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.

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.

[6] 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.

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.

[9] Japan retained the northern half of Sakhalin Island until 1925, ostensibly as compensation for Nikolayevsk incident - the massacre of about 700 Japanese civilians and soldiers at Nikolaevsk-na-Amure in May-June 1920.

[1] The fishing industry of the former Maritime Province was substantial, with a total catch exceeding that of Iceland and featuring ample stocks of herring, salmon, and sturgeon.

[1] The Republic also boasted extensive forestry resources, including over 120 million acres (490,000 km2) of harvestable pine, fir, cedar, poplar, and birch.

The division defended the border with Manchuria from its formation, and between 4 and 25 October took part in the Primorsky operation to defeat the Zemskaya Rat, the last remnants of the Whites in the Far East.