A state entity that existed in 1921–1922 in the Far East. It controlled the territory of the former Primorskaya and, since September 1921, the Kamchatka region of the Russian Empire.

 

On May 26, 1921, in Vladivostok, the Whites overthrew the Primorsky Regional Zemstvo Board headed by a Bolshevik Vasily Antonov, who recognized the authority of the Far Eastern Republic (DVR). The power passed to the Congress of non-socialist organizations of the Far East, which elected the Provisional Priamurye Government, headed by Spiridon Merkulov. The People’s Assembly was the supreme representative body. The Priamurye State was supported by Japan and the USA.

 

Formed from the units that were previously part of the army of General Vladimir Kappel and Ataman Grigory Semyonov, the armed forces of the Priamurye State were named the White Rebel Army. On December 22, the White Rebel Army under the command of Major General Viktorin Molchanov took Khabarovsk. However, on February 12, 1922, the White troops were defeated at the Volochaevka station by the troops of the DVR’s People’s Revolutionary Army (commanded by Vasily Blyukher).

 

Defeats and the inability to cope with the growing strength of the Red partisan movement led to the resignation of the government of Spiridon Merkulov in the summer of 1922 and the transfer of real power to lieutenant general Mikhail Diterikhs. On July 23 – August 10, 1922, the Priamurye Zemstvo Sobor, a representative assembly with constituent and legislative functions, was held in Vladivostok. The Sobor admitted that the right to exercise supreme power in Russia belonged to the Romanov dynasty, proclaiming the revival of autocracy in Russia for the first time in the history of the White Movement.

 

On August 6, the Sobor elected Mikhail Diterikhs a provisional ruler. By Decree No. 1, Diterikhs renamed the Priamurye State into the Priamursky Zemsky Krai and ordered the Sobor to create the Zemstvo Duma (an advisory body under the ruler). Church parishes became the main administrative-territorial units of the Southern Primorye. The White Rebel Army was renamed the Zemstvo Host, which was headed by Diterikhs himself taking the post of Zemstvo Voivode.

 

In September 1922, the Zemstvo Host of Mikhail Diterikhs launched an offensive against the forces of the DVR but was soon defeated. In October 1922, as a result of the Primorskaya operation of the DVR’s People’s Revolutionary Army (commanded by Ieronim Uborevich) completely defeated the Zemstvo Host. On October 25, the units of the DVR’s People’s Revolutionary Army entered Vladivostok that had been left by Japanese troops and parts of the Zemstvo Host. The Priamursky Zemsky Krai, the last state formation of the Whites in Russia, ceased to exist.