Resolution of the Russian-Ukrainian territorial dispute during the creation of the Donetsk province in 1920

The paper deals with the formation of the Russian-Ukrainian border and the peculiarities of the territorialization of the Donetsk province in 1920. It is based on documents stored in domestic and foreign central and local archival institutions. The authors note that the administrative-territorial dispute that arose during the formatting of the specified border was due to the orientation of the parties to different factors and criteria for delimitation. The priority in the application of economic criteria by Moscow, which led to the formation of the Donetsk province as part of the Ukrainian SSR and the transfer of part of the Don lands to it, did not satisfy both sides. The Ukrainian side insisted on transferring significant territories of the RSFSR to it, inhabited, in its opinion, by the Ukrainians. The Russian side strongly protested against the transfer of the lands of the Don Cossacks, insisting on preserving the unity of the region. The most fierce disputes arose around the transfer of Taganrog to the Ukrainian SSR. The degree of tension in Russian-Ukrainian inter-republican relations has somewhat decreased due to the intervention of the central authorities, but it was not possible to find an optimal solution that satisfies both sides. Moscow resolutely suppressed all disputes between the fraternal Soviet republics and rejected all the claims of the parties. As a result, this led to the conservation of territorial disputes and mutual dissatisfaction with the results of the Russian-Ukrainian inter-republican delimitation of the 1920s. However, the results of the Russian-Ukrainian demarcation carried out in 1920 concealed a significant conflict potential, so it is not surprising that border disputes between the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR not only resumed the following year, but also put the implementation of national economic tasks at risk. Subsequently, representatives of the RSFSR and the Ukrainian SSR repeatedly called for a revision of the established borders, which required more reasoned approaches and decisions from the Kremlin.