Soviet Russia and later the Soviet Union had diplomatic assistance to the Provisional Government of the Republic of Korea, the forerunner to the present day Republic of Korea, which served as a government in exile during the Japanese occupation of the country. As they resisted the Japanese, its manpower diminished when they attempted to reorganize their forces in Svobodny, Amur Oblast. The Bolsheviks believed them to be a liability to the Soviet Russia during the Russian Civil War when the Japanese joined forces with the White Army and forced them disarm and join the Red Army. But they refused and the Red Army massacred them at Svobodny.
