Vasily Vasilyevich Balabanov (; 30 January 1873 – 27 January 1947) was a former governor of Turkestan in Imperial Russia, a governor of Semirechye, an SR and a commissar of the Russian Provisional Government. Biography Vasily Balabanov was the third of five children of Vasily Stepanovich Balabanov and Maria Muravskaya. In 1892 he was married for the first time. In 1894 Balabanov graduated from Moscow University and returned to the family estate in Bakhmut. He was noted for being sympathetic to the peasants and helped modernize methods and improve conditions. In 1905 he visited Asiatic Russia, impressed with the vastness and available land for the poor Russian peasants. He went to Moscow with his idea and came back with the backing of the government. After a slow start, with the loss of the Russo-Japanese War, there were many ex-soldiers and families attracted to the prospect and a trickle turned into a flood. Balabanov received the title of 'Minister of Resettlement of Turkestan' and helped the new arrivals settle in the area. His first wife died after 4 children (Galina, Sergey, Alexey and Klara) and Balabanov married Anastasia Kvasnicki from Odessa, the daughter of a Jewish merchant with whom he had three children, Vladimir, Vasily and Taras. In 1913 Balabanov was appointed governor-general of the Turkestan Province. He spent time with dignitaries, and had one of the few automobiles in this remote area. Although he didn't live in a palace, the official house was large and it had many staff in attendance. With the start of World War I in 1914 the Tsar needed soldiers from the peasants and Balabanov had to balance this with keeping enough farmers in the fields to produce enough food for everyone. As a result few staff were available to take care of his offices and home. His wife left and he married a third time to Vera Afanaseva who had to run the large official residence in Lepsinsk. Russian Civil War By 1919 the Russian Revolution had reached Turkestan. For many months there was fighting between the reds and whites, with one side taking a town only to be taken back a few days later. Balabanov spent a great deal of time working with Alexander Dutov and General Grigory Semyonov in diplomacy. One time Dutov sent Balabanov to convince Semyonov to join him in an attack. Semyonov claimed Balabanov was no longer the Governor because