 The process of Russification and colonization of this territory started to be carried out by representatives of other ethnic groups of the Russian Empire, including Jews, Germans, Bulgarians, Gagauz, and Ukrainians.When the Russian Empire collapsed after the Russian Revolution of 1917, a local body called “Sfatul Țării” ("Council of the Country") was created in Bessarabia.Moldova became an independent republic on December 2, 1917.