“The entire fate of Russia depends on it”: on the demographic and economic expansion of China and Japan in the east of Russia During second Russian Smuta

The article studies the demographic and economic situation in Siberia and Russia's Far East during the Civil War on the basis of archival documents, with the main focus being made on the demographic, financial and trade expansion of China and Japan in this region. Attention is paid to labour migration and refugees as well as the demographic and economic policies of Provisional Siberian Government and Admiral Kolchak's Russian Government in 1918–1919 seeking to counteract this expansion. It is concluded that China's and Japan's successful expansion in this area were conditioned by low population density, poorly developed industry and railways as well as the corruption of local authorities.