evidence: - In 1914, the Russian Empire designated Tuva its protectorate and permitted Russians to settle there, greatly offending the Tuvans who assaulted them from time to time. - The new communist government in Russia declared in 1921 that the protectorate established earlier by the Russian monarchy was invalid, thus establishing Tuva as an independent state. In reality, the so-called "Tannu-Tuva People’s Republic" that governed from 1921 until 1944 was Soviet puppetry. [...] - The Tuvan ethnic group has increased its demographic dominance in Russia after the fall of the Soviet Union, from two-thirds to three-quarters of the republic’s population. Tuva, nevertheless, remains one of Russia’s poorest regions and is highly reliant on federal subsidies.