With the Russia rework in the works but the details still TBA, here is my effort at not only creating Russian lore that would better explain the current state of affairs for the Russian Republic. Prompted and requested at the lovely folks at /r/WeltkriegPowers.

Russian Civil War

Following the October Revolution and the seizure of power by Lenin, a last minute attempt by Kerensky - supported by Pyotr Krasnov - to launch a counter-revolution against the Bolsheviks by Pskov failed, with Kerensky being forced into exile. However, Krasnov quickly aligns himself with the Germans, and while going to exile in German occupied Ukraine, utilizes this time to garner support for a German backed liberation of the Don Cossacks. While initially hesitant to support the fledgling White Movement in late 1917 and early 1918, Trotsky’s obstructionism over Brest-Litovsk led to the launching of Operation Faustschlag by the Germans. With Soviet forces getting thoroughly crushed by the Germans, Krasnov - independently of the Volunteer Army in the Kuban - managed to link up southeast of Rostov-on-Don, liberating the significant portions of the Don and Kuban Cossacks from the Soviets. However, despite this initial success by Krasnov and Kornilov, the eventual signing of Brest-Litovsk by the Soviets quickly forced the Whites to retreat across the empty steppes in what historians call the “Ice March”. With the Don Cossacks providing much needed - if independent aid - the Soviet threat to the north and Kornilov’s promises about a future northward campaign aimed at liberating and securing the Don Republic sees Kornilov and Krasnov begin to cooperate on the strategic level with the Kuban soon liberated of the Bolshevik menace.

With Soviet attention focused more on Kornilov rather than transporting the Czechs to Vladivostok, the Czechoslovak Legion quickly came into greater conflict with the local Soviets. Obstructionism by the Soviets in Chelyabinsk and conflict with a group of Austrian POWs, caused the Czechoslovak Legion to revolt in May of 1918, seizing vast swaths of Russia and the Trans-Siberian Railroad. With Bolshevik power in Siberia - and perhaps Siberia - irrevocably weakened by the unilateral Czech action, the White Movement quickly established provisional governments across Russian Siberia with the Provisional Government of the Urals (PGU) being established on June 1st, 1918. Similar governments would be established in Omsk and Samara soon after in the month of June backed by the military elite and the Constituent Assembly respectively.

With Siberia mostly pacified by the end of June, Japanese and British forces land at Vladistovok on July 15th, securing the major Russian port and allowing Allied aid to be sent West should Russia rejoin the war. Despite a common focus to fight the Bolsheviks, the provisional governments in Siberia quickly clashed with each other, vying for legitimacy and leadership over the fragmented White Movement. A Soviet counter-offensive against Komuch pushes back Kappel and as a result, White authority over the Volga basin is subsequently reduced as the major cities of Kazan and Samara fall to the Red Army. With the Red Army advancing ever closer to Siberia, Komuch and the PGU quickly met in Ufa to discuss a reunification of the two governments. While Komuch and the PGU soon came to terms, the Provisional Siberian Government (PSG) in Omsk initially refused to send a delegation, and only sent one after heavy American and British lobbying in Omsk. Following the successful conclusion of the Ufa Conference, both America and Britain quickly recognize the Provisional All-Russian Government based in Ufa as the legitimate successor to the Russian Republic, allowing for much needed loans and supplies from the West to reinforce the White movement under the joint leadership of Vladimir Vol’skii and Pavel Ivanov.

The unification of the White movement in Siberia quickly revived hope among the recently subjugated Left SRs, in particular one Fanya Kaplin. On August 30th, while touring and making a speech at the Hammer and Sickle Factory, Vladimir Lenin was shot by Fanya Kaplin multiple times, before Lenin;s bodyguards would intervene, subduing Fanya. While initially surviving his wounds in the security of the Kremlin, Lenin would die two days later on September 1st. Fearing that the death of Lenin would cause the Bolshevik movement to collapse, VTsIK declared that Lenin was merely recovering from his wounds and announced Lev Kamenev as temporary chairman of SOVNARKOM. However, as rumors quickly spread through Moscow, the Bolsheviks were forced to announce the death of Lenin on the 4th, and quickly reaffirmed Lev Kamenev’s new position as the chairman of SOVNARKOM.

With the death of Lenin, and the appointment of Lev Kamenev saw a reorganization and reform of the Red Army. Halting their offensive against the White Movement on the eve of the Ufa State Conference, the Red Army was forced to dig in and wait as the White Movement soon unified and diverted forces westward to prevent further Soviet breakthroughs. Despite a reprieve from the relentless Soviet advance, the recently unified Russian Government had to quickly contend with the Novoselov Affair brewing in Omsk. Omsk, quickly finding itself sidelined in the Provisional All-Russian Government, quickly inflamed tensions in the government, hoping to utilize the recent replacement of General Grishin-Almazov with Major Pavel Pavlovich Ivanov-Rinov - Ataman of the Siberian Cossack Host.

In an attempt to break the Komuch-Yekaterinburg power-block in both the Directorate and prevent a quorum from being established on the Council of Ministers, the military would quickly arrest Aleksandr Novoselov - on charges of treason and conspiracy. Soon plotting to have Novoselov ‘die while escaping’, the military coup was discovered and dispersed by the Czechoslovak Legion. The fallout from the Affair quickly led to a further erosion of Omsk’s military and political influence as recently appointed Commandant Volkov was transferred out of town. A later attempt by rogue officers to transport the newly acquired gold reserves of the Provincial All-Russian Government to Omsk from Chelyabinsk would also be stopped by not only the Czechoslovak Legion, but the two government representatives tasked with finding a safe-house for the gold reserve.

However, despite a lengthy reorganization by the Red Army, the Soviets would catch the White forces in Siberia off guard due to the tense political situation, forcing the Siberian Army back to the Urals. However, Western aid accompanied by the successes of the Volunteer Army in Southern Russia caused the Soviets to only reach the outskirts of Perm and Ufa. While neither city was taken in the fighting, fears of the Russian advance prompted an evacuation of the Ufa Directorate to Chelyabinsk. While Omsk was considered for the new temporary capital of the Provisional Government, the White Army’s ability to defend Ufa, the gold reserves and distrust of the military officers in Omsk would lead to Chelyabinsk’s selection.

Kolchak, having arrived from the United States to serve on the Chelyabinsk’s Council of Ministers, would find himself in an unenviable position. During a brief stay in Omsk, a final coup d’etat was conducted by Ataman Krasilnikov in an attempt to overthrow the Directorate and place a military strongman as ‘Supreme Commander’ was quickly crushed by the local garrison. Kolchak, despite having no clear connections to Ataman Krasilnikov and initially unaware of the coup until after it was crushed, was relegated to the Far East for the rest of 1918 to help coordinate anti-partisan raids and secure the Russian port of Magadan. By the time his was recalled back by the Directorate, Kolchak found himself supervising the performance of Russian gunboats on the Volga and its estuaries, helping to deem his image within the Provisional Government but failing to make Kolchak a well-known war hero.

With the Soviet Winter Offensive halted outside of Ufa and Perm, the Provisional All-Russian Government - now stabilized - quickly launched a counterattack against the worn out Soviet forces, soon liberating Izhevsk on Christmas Day and preventing a Soviet evacuation of arms stored at the Izhevsk Arms Plant. With Izhevsk liberated and the Votkinsk Peoples’ Revolutionary Army not disbanding, the White Army soon found themselves only a few days' march from the bank of the Volga at the end of November. In the South, the Volunteer Army quickly pushes the Soviets in a surprise offensive, causing the Soviets to withdraw north as the 11th Army is virtually annihilated at Stavropol due to the skill of General Denikin, earning him much popular support.

With the 11st Army collapsed, the White Army pushed further north from their positions in Southern Russia in the month of December, liberating significant portions of the Don Republic from Bolshevik rule as Astrakhan was put under siege. In the East, the Volunteer Army launches a final offensive, liberating the right bank of the Volga as heavy city fighting breaks out in Kazan, Samara, Simbirsk and Saratov with Tsaritsyn remaining the only secure Bolshevik bridgehead on the Upper Volga. While plans were drafted to link up across the Volga, the Soviet Flotilla along the Volga was able to prevent any serious attempts by the White Forces. With the collapse of the Siberian front, Ioseb Dzhugashvili’s report on the status of the Soviet Forces in Siberia is quickly adopted and rushed into practice. However, with the forces of Reaction finding significant support in previously occupied Soviet territories, the Cheka is granted further control and influence to suppress dissidents and continue and expand upon the grain confiscations all in the name of War Communism.

January and February see a stalemate between White and Soviet forces with the Central Powers recovering from the Crises of late-1918. Well acute of the Communist Threat and the Volunteer Army needing further supplies to continue its offensives against Soviet forces in Tsaritsyn, an informal agreement and cooperation was made between the AFSR and German Empire on January 17th. With German material flooding in, the Volunteer Army takes this time to build up its strength and ensure the loyalty of the Kuban and Don Cossacks. In March however, the entire Soviet system could begin to collapse, as the stresses of further War Communism quickly turned into a full on revolt against Soviet rule. 150,000 peasants, sick and tired of Soviet oppression, spontaneously revolt along the left bank of the Volga. With the support of Red Army deserters, the peasants manage to dislodge the Soviet positions in the East, allowing the Siberian Army to effortlessly cross. With their positions against the Siberian Army virtually routed, SOVNARKOM soon evacuates from their salient in Astrakhan, focusing the bulk of their defense at Tsaritsyn to prevent the White Movement from connecting their forces by rail.

Emboldened, the Volunteer Army - now the Armed Forces of Southern Russia (AFSR) prematurely launches its offensive against Stalin’s positions in Tsaritsyn. While Stalin was initially able to hold the Volunteer Army at the gates and suburbs of Tsaritsyn, German support ultimately carried the day for the Russians. Germany, utilizing limited support by the AFSR and newly built and crewed A7Vs manage to push the Soviets out of the city in only a few days, with the entirety of Tsaritsyn liberated by April 11th, connecting the AFSR and PARG by rail. General Kornilov, impressed by the results and recognizing that the British are unable to support the AFSR due to the Ottoman position in the Levant, declares his support for the Central Powers. While this does create tensions within the White Movement, both sides agree that current and future disputes will be settled after the war’s conclusion.

As a result of the AFSR’s betrayal, the British Malleson Mission in Turkestan was cancelled with General Malleson disbursing the Turkestan Army soon after, being redeployed to the Northwest Frontier Province in India.With the collapse of the Turkestan Army and the Tashkent Soviet still isolated from Moscow, the Basmachi movement is able to establish its authority over the region, with the Emirate of Turkestan being proclaimed on April 28th. In Arkhangelsk, the British secretly quickly begin funneling arms and men to General Miller, hoping that their increased support will prevent a Russian alignment with Germany and allow British forces in the region enough time to evacuate.

With their flanks effectively secure and the Red Army battered, White forces launch a slow but continuous offensive towards Moscow, soom liberating Vyatka on April 24th, Balashov on May 1st, and Nizhny Novgorod on May 29th. As German support - and influence continues to grow - the Whites find themselves slowly succumbing to German influence as British support seems to come with more and more strings attached. Once the armistice in the West is signed, the Provisional Government declares its alignment with the Central Powers, as the main British justification for their support (to open a second front against Germany) is null and void. The British Military Attache in Omsk is recalled to much fanfare as Britain withdraws its forces back to Transamur. With France falling into greater disorder and with the Soviets providing the greatest threat to German ambitions in the East, Operation Taifun - a joint German-Russian offensive - was conducted to crush the October Revolution, once and for all.

General Wrangel, based in Ukraine and outfitted by the German Army quickly led the first assault, pushing out from the Ukraine north towards Orel and Tula, managing to capture the former before being stopped by Leon Trotsky only 20 kilometers from Tula. While the Tula Arms Plant was still within Bolshevik hands, developments elsewhere would draw the Soviet attention away from Wrangel. Yudenich - utilizing the remnants of the Northern Corps formerly stationed in Pskov and securing both Finnish and German support launched his own offensive to liberate Petrograd. Managing to take and hold Kikerino on August 1st, Yudenich would continue his offensive, taking Gatchina on the 3rd before completing the encirclement of Petrograd only a week later. In a desperate effort to break the Siege of Petrograd, Grigory Zinoviev would request support from the Kronstadt garrison, but to his surprise, Kronstadt refused to send support over. Unaware of the disunity between the anarchists and communist forces, the German fleet would be dispatched to the Gulf of Finland, soon clearing defensive Soviet minefields and beginning to barrage and suppress the naval base at Kronstadt. With no hope of holding out for any extended period of time, Zinoviev began to reach a deal with Yudenich’s North-Western Army in late August.While initially wanting to surrender on August 29th, the White Army would not take his surrender until the 1st of September, wanting to have the home of the Revolution surrender on the 1st Anniversary of Vladimir Lenin’s death.

With Petrograd fallen and the Whites seizing more and more of Russia, the Bolshevik forces were doomed. Despite heavy cooperation and anarchist revolts across Ukraine and Southern Russia led by Nestor Makhno, Operation Taifun continued their slow drive to Moscow, with Tula and Smolensk falling in October. The White noose around Moscow continued to develop as Tver surrendered on December 3rd, and Yaroslavl soon surrendered on December 16th. Attempts by Soviet generals Tukhachevsky and Yegorov to somehow turn the tide of the war failed, and so the Soviets quickly dug into Moscow, hoping to bleed the Whites as much as possible. Despite the Cheka presence in Moscow, protests and riots in the city continued to grow as the Whites liberated district after district from the Bolsheviks, finally capturing the Kremlin on January 18th, signalling the end of organized resistance to the Provisional Government.

The Provisional Government quickly utilized what captured Soviet government ministers and generals they could to sign an official peace to reunite ‘Mother Russia’. Soon after their signatures, every prominent Soviet official - including Leon Trotsky was ‘shot and killed while attempting to escape’. What remnants of the Soviet government and Red Army fled north to Murmansk, hoping to disguise themselves in the mostly defector Northern Army that was currently being broken up by the lingering British forces in the region. As the Provisional Government moved to reassert its control over the Kola Peninsula, a British led effort to evacuate leftover Entente war material and those members not wishing to serve the Provisional Government unintentionally brought hundreds if not thousands of Soviet exiles to the United Kingdom. Upon their arrival in the Home Isles, the Soviet exiles slowly crossed the channel into the newly created Commune of France.

The Germans, despite supporting the White Russians against the Soviets, quickly imposed on them the same terms offered and accepted by the Soviets in Brest-Litovsk with an additional Supplementary Agreement to better reflect the new balance of power. With the Weltkrieg over and the burning of bridges with the British, the Russians were forced to accept.

Birth of the Russian Republic

Following the defeat of the Bolsheviks and the victory of the German backed White Movement, things turned sour for Russia. The Germans, despite supporting the White Russians against the Soviets, quickly imposed on them the same terms offered and accepted by the Soviets in Brest-Litovsk with an additional Supplementary Agreement to better reflect the new balance of power. With Britain and America unwilling to support the ‘traitorous’ Provisional Government against German demands, the Russians were forced to accept.

However, despite the end of the Weltkrieg, a new conflict in the East was brewing. Japan, not having been a party to the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 continued to occupy not only German East Asia, but Transamur as well. With the war in Europe over, Russian forces were redeployed to the Far East, stationing themselves along the Amur River. Fearing that Japan’s colonial ambitions in Siberia were not just limited to Transamur, the United States quickly intervened, sending an ultimatum to Japan to withdraw from the region. Not wanting to come into conflict with the United States and Russia and with the costs of the intervention continuing to weigh on the Japanese treasury, Japan relented, negotiating a settlement with Russia that saw the return of Transamur to Russia, with North Sakhalin and the rest of the Chinese Eastern Railway in Manchuria being ceded to the Empire of Japan.

With the Russian government suffering two humiliating peace treaties, the military took action and quickly launched a coup d’etat against the Constituent Assembly, under the guise of ridding Russia of the spectre of Bolshevism. Lasting from its inception on August 27th 1920, to its dissolution on October 2nd 1922, the Military Junta quickly began the reconstruction of Russia, declaring martial law across the country to ruthlessly establish law and order. However, despite its success in crushing Bolshevik insurgencies and its early efforts at rebuilding the Russian State, the military junta was still beholden to public pressure. Writing a constitution with some input by civilian advisors, the military junta voted 5-2 to dissolve itself and declared that Russia was to hold elections on November 25th, 1922.

Under the watchful eye of the military and with the threat that Article 46 of the Constitution would be enacted should a radical take power - and a return to military rule, perhaps permanently - Georgy Lvov of the Kadets was elected President of Russia as the Kadets swept to power, relying mostly their base of support in Western Russia to pass Lvov’s nomination through the Senate. Able to reduce some of the harsher terms imposed upon Russia by Brest-Litovsk, Lvov embarked on a campaign of fiscal authority, further cutting social spending and funding to the military in order to pay off Brest-Litovsk early. Also while in power, Lvov was able to further delineate Russia’s border with Finland following the East Karelian National Revolt in 1922, with Nikolai Nekrasov of the RDP being Russia’s lead negotiator with Finnish authorities.

In March of 1925 Georgy Lvov passed away and a power struggle between the Cossacks and the central government would soon form. Krasnov, having been fully restored to his position as Ataman of the Don Republic would reach out to his old ally Kornilov, hoping to come to some sort of agreement with Krasnov offering the support of his Cossacks to reestablish a military junta with Kornilov as leader, should Kornilov support Cossack autonomy. Agreeing to Krasnov’s terms, Kornilov quickly prepared his forces around Moscow and Petrograd, waiting for Krasnov to make the first move. Krasnov however got cold feet and instead of revolting against the Russian government, quickly declared his independence and mobilized his forces to prepare for a Russian counterattack. Kuban quickly followed and a wave of Cossack unrest quickly spread from the Caucasus and into Central Asia and Siberia. Kornilov quickly abandoned his plot and would soon just spend the next few weeks trying to restore order across Russia.

The 5th Duma, quickly finding itself in financial trouble as a result of the New York Stock Market crash, would grant large amounts of autonomy to Central Asia and the rest of the loyal Cossacks with the Alash Orda being reestablished over Kazakhstan to avoid a costly military intervention. While Kornilov was able to hide the evidence of his plot in the chaos, he soon recognized that no matter its flaws, the Russian Republic would not be easily overthrown by a weakened Russian military. As such, Kornilov soon founded the Russian All-Military Union with the support of Wrangel and Savinkov, aiming to bring a military dictatorship through democratic means, though the use of military force was not officially renounced by Wrangel and Kornilov…

However, despite an initial surge of support following the weak government response to the succession of the Don Republic and the Kuban People’s Republic, the Russian All-Military Union (ROVS) found itself sliding in the polls in the runoff to the 1927 elections, doing relatively poorly due to a coalition of the Radical Democratic Party (RDP), Labourist Popular-Socialist Party (TNSP) and both the Right and Left SRs. With a failure in the 1927 elections to gain meaningful Senate and Duma influence, the ROVS splintered with Savinkov breaking away in 1929 and founding the People’s Republican Party (NRPR). Through expert electioneering and through liberal use of party funds, the NRPR quickly found popularity in a populace that wanted radical change and an end to the humiliation endured by Russia.

Modern Situation

The 8th Duma currently lurches from political crisis to political crisis as gains by both the Left SRs and the NRPR have limited the amount of formable governments in the Duma and the Senate. Despite the Kadets entering a ‘Progressive’ coalition with the RDP, TNSP and the Right SRs, the coalition is barely able to pass any sort of legislation, with filibustering by both the left and the right becoming an - almost - daily occurrence. Obstructionism is the name of the game and it's only through the use of political favors and bribery that the Russian government is really able to function beyond passing a yearly budget. While reform has been proposed to clamp down on corruption and filibustering, these efforts have been stuck in committee for the past four years. Under the leadership of President Nikolai Nekrasov, the Progressives have only limited time to reform the Russian Republic in time for the 1937 elections. Should they not, who knows what the future of Mother Russia will be.

tl;dr - Transamur doesn't exist; a transitional military dictatorship between the end of the RCW and 1922; Kolchak is only a moderately well-known figure; Nekrasov replaces Kerensky as leader at game start; Kolchak's failed coup attempt replaced with Kornilov's failed coup attempt