Russian Republic

The Russian Republic was the short-lived Russian state which controlled, de jure, the territory of the former Russian Empire after its proclamation by the Russian Provisional Government on 1 September (14 September, N.S.Tooltip New Style) 1917 in a decree signed by Alexander Kerensky as Minister-Chairman and Alexander Zarudny as Minister of Justice. The government of the Russian Republic was dissolved after the Bolsheviks seized power by force on 7 November 1917. Nonetheless, a partially democratic election of the Constituent Assembly still took place later in November. On 18 January 1918, this assembly issued a decree, proclaiming Russia a democratic federal republic, but was also dissolved by the Bolsheviks on the next day after the proclamation. The Bolsheviks also used the name "Russian Republic" until its renaming to the "Russian Soviet Republic" which was declared in January 1918; but the official name "Russian Socialist Federative Soviet Republic" was formally adopted in the Constitution of July 1918. The term is sometimes used erroneously for the period between the abdication of the Emperor Nicholas II on 2 March 1917 (15 March, N.S.) and the declaration of the Russian Republic in September. However, during that period the status of the Russian political system was unresolved, left up to be decided by a future elected Constituent Assembly.