Japanese influence had extended into Outer Manchuria in the wake of the Russian Revolution of 1917, but Outer Manchuria had reverted to Soviet control by 1925.

Japan had taken advantage of the disorder following the Russian Revolution to occupy Outer Manchuria, but Soviet successes and American economic pressure have forced Japanese withdrawal.

Harbin, having been flooded in the early 1920s with 100,000 to 200,000 Russian White émigrés fleeing from Russia, holds the largest Russian population outside of the state of Russia.