1923–19401956–1991 → → Established 1923 Sovereignty declared 9 August 1990 Founded 1936 | Government Soviet republic Demotion to ASSR 6 July 1956 | |
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1926 147,000 km (56,757 sq mi) | ||
The Karelian Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republic (Russian: Каре́льская Автоно́мная Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, Karelskaya Avtonomnaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika; Finnish: Karjalan autonominen sosialistinen neuvostotasavalta), or, in short, the Karelian ASSR (Russian: Каре́льская АССР, Karelskaya ASSR; Finnish: Karjalan ASNT), sometimes referred to as Soviet Karelia or simply Karelia was an autonomous republic of the Russian SFSR, Soviet Union, with the capital in Petrozavodsk.
The Karelian ASSR was formed as a part of the Russian SFSR by the Resolution of the Presidium of the All-Russian Central Executive Committee (VTsIK) of June 27, 1923 and by the Decree of the VTsIK and the Council of People's Commissars of July 25, 1923 from the Karelian Labor Commune. In 1927, the ASSR was divided into districts, which replaced the old volosts.
From 1940 to 1956, territory annexed from Finland was incorporated with the previous Karelian Autonomous Republic to form the Karelo-Finnish Soviet Socialist Republic, which had the status of a union republic in the federal structure of the Soviet Union. By this time, only about 10% of the population of this region was of Karelian or Finnish ethnic background.
On July 16, 1956, the SSR was downgraded from a Union Republic to an ASSR, and retroceded to the Russian SFSR. Beginning on August 9, 1990, the Karelian ASSR declared state sovereignty and renamed to the Karelian Soviet Socialist Republic (Russian: Каре́льская Сове́тская Социалисти́ческая Респу́блика, tr. Karelskaya Sovetskaya Sotsialisticheskaya Respublika; Finnish: Karjalan sosialistinen neuvostotasavalta). The Karelian SSR was renamed to the Republic of Karelia on November 13, 1991 and remains a federal subject of Russia.