An advisory body under the Ruler of South Russia and the Commander-in-Chief of the Armed Forces of South Russia (AFSR, since May 11 – Russian Army) Pyotr Wrangel.

 

The Government was established in Sevastopol on April 11, 1920, as a Council under the Commander-in-Chief. It was the successor of the South Russian Government under the AFSR Commander-in-Chief Anton Denikin. By Pyotr Wrangel’s decision, the new body was given only advisory functions. Since June 6, Aleksander Krivoshein became the Chairman of the Council. The Department of Foreign Relations was headed by a Constitutional Democrat (Kadet) Pyotr Struve. There were also Military, Maritime, Trade and Industry, Agriculture, and Land Management departments. Since August 19, after the conclusion of an agreement with the Cossacks of the Don, Kuban, Terek, and Astrakhan, the Council became known as the Government of South Russia.

 

The policy and declarations of the Government of South Russia reflected the evolution in the tactics of the Whites at the last stage of the Civil War in Russia. So, as per the national issue, the Government declared its intention to unite various regions of Russia into a federation. They carried out an agrarian reform in Crimea, effectively legalizing the seizure of landowners’ lands during the Revolution (a 25-year long term for the purchase of these lands by peasants was introduced). Grain requisitions were canceled, zemstvo self-government was restored, and trade unions were allowed to operate on the peninsula.

 

The Foreign Ministry’s main achievement was the recognition of Pyotr Wrangel’s regime by France. With its help, in November 1920, the Government of South Russia prepared and carried out the evacuation of the remnants of troops and part of the civilian population from the Crimean Peninsula after the defeat of the Russian Army by the troops of the Workers’ and Peasants’ Red Army.