A Revolutionary Democracy government that operated in 1918 in Omsk and controlled part of the territory of the Urals, Siberia, and the Far East. Most of the posts in the Government were held by followers of the Siberian Regionalism (a social and political movement for the autonomy of Siberia). Pyotr Vologodsky was the Chairman of the Government.

 

The Czechoslovak Legion offense in May–June 1918 led to the liquidation of the Bolshevik power in a significant part of Siberia. On June 30, Omsk announced the establishment of the Council of Ministers of the Provisional Siberian Government, which included Pyotr Vologodsky (Chairman and Minister of Foreign Relations), Vladimir Krutovsky (Minister of Internal Affairs), Ivan Mikhailov (Minister of Finance), Grigory Patushinsky (Minister of Justice), and Mikhail Shatilov (Minister of Native Affairs). Later they were joined by Ivan Serebrennikov (Minister of Supply). The West Siberian (from July 27, the Siberian) Army under the command of Aleksey Grishin (Almazov), who became Minister of War, was the military force of the state.

 

On July 4, 1918, the Government adopted the Declaration on the State Independence of Siberia, approved the flag, coat of arms, and anthem of autonomous Siberia. The nature of future relations between Siberia and European Russia was to be determined by the All-Siberian and All-Russian Constituent Assemblies.

 

By early September, the Siberian Army together with the Czechoslovak Legion had ousted the Bolsheviks from the territory from Yekaterinburg and Chelyabinsk in the west to Chita in the east. Government delegations headed by Pyotr Vologodsky managed to achieve the self-liquidation of the Provisional Government of Autonomous Siberia (September 21) and the Government of the Provisional Ruler General Dmitry Horvat (from September 13, he became the plenipotentiary of the Provisional Siberian Government) in the Far East. As a result, the territory from the Urals to the Pacific Ocean was under the PSG’s control.

 

Legislation and public administration bodies of the Provisional Government were re-established in this territory. The regions and governorates were governed by Government Commissars appointed by the Council of Ministers. In the cities, municipal bodies (dumas and councils) were re-established. Zemstvo self-government bodies at the district and governorate levels were re-established (however, it was not possible to establish full control in rural areas, thus, Councils of Peasants’ Deputies still operated there).

 

The Provisional Siberian Government actively opposed the Committee of Members of the Constituent Assembly (Komuch), which also claimed to be a center for anti-Bolshevik forces. On September 23, 1918, at the State Conference in Ufa, Pyotr Vologodsky was elected a member of the Provisional All-Russian Government (Ufa Directorate). It was this body that on November 3, 1918, was given absolute authority on the territory of Siberia by the Provisional Siberian Government, which resigned the supreme administration.