In January 1918, Yudovsky was appointed Chairman of the local Council of the People's Commissars and formed a government that included Bolsheviks, anarchists and members of the Socialist-Revolutionary Party.

The following month, the government was liquidated by Mikhail Muravyov and merged with the regional Central Executive Committee Rumcherod.

[citation needed] Political instability meant that the OSR was not recognized by any other government, including Russian Bolsheviks, during its brief existence.

The Republic failed to stop the Romanian occupation of Bessarabia, a region to which it laid claim.

It ceased to exist altogether when it was sacked by German and Austro-Hungarian troops on 13 March 1918, two months after its creation, following the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk between the Central Powers, Ukrainian People's Republic and Petrograd Sovnarkom.