In the Urals, at Orensburg, uprising by Ataman Dutov's anti-Bolshevik Cossacks, who finally seized control of the city on 31 January 1918.

On 9 December, a Russian peace delegation left Petrograd to return to talks at Brest Litovsk. Great Britain once again declined a Soviet proposal to join in peace talks.

At Petrograd, Commissar of Foreign Affairs, Leon Trotsky, recalled 28 Russian diplomats and consular agents in foreign countries.

On the Romanian Front, the Armistice of Focsani was concluded between Romania and the Central Powers.

At Novocherkassk, establishment of the Don Cossack Army, led by General L.G. Kornilov, also the formation of a company under Kapitan Parfenov, and the St. George Regiment led by Polkovnik Nezhintsev. There was a parade of the first units of the Volunteer (White) Army on the Day of St. George, Patron Saint of Russia.

At Rostov, the Soviet MRC decided not to recognize the authority of the Don government. Rostov was seized in a revolutionary coup by Black Sea Fleet Red sailors and Antonov's Red troops. Brutal fighting lasted five days, until the city was retaken by Volunteer Army troops.

On 10 December, formal peace talks opened at Brest-Litovsk.

At Petrograd, only 172 deputies, mostly right-wing socialists and Kadets, attempted to convene the newly elected Constituent Assembly. The following day the Bolsheviks arrested a number of them.

At Petrograd, a meeting of Second Congress of Peasant Soviets, which endorsed calls for a coalition socialist administration, as Left SR's drafted plans for a possible merger with the Petrograd Soviet of Workers' and Soldiers' Deputies.

In Ukraine, Red troops, supported by four armored trains, defeated White units of General Kornilov at Tamarovka, near Belgorod, north of Kharkov. A White armored train was barely able to escape.

At London, Japanese Ambassador Chinda rejected Lord Balfour's proposal for an American expedition to Vladivostok. In Japan, Japanese businessman Nishihara joined Russian agent Andreev in a move for an independent anti-Soviet Siberia.

On 11 December, in the Far East, there was a meeting of the Soviets of the Far East at Khabarovsk. At Vladivostok, Allied consuls urged the need for military forces in the city.

A Lithuanian Republic, independent of Russia, was declared at Vilna.

In America, President Wilson signed a U.S. declaration of war on Austria-Hungary.

On 12 December, in the Far East, Japanese troopships arrived in the harbor at Vladivostok to prevent Reds from seizing Allied war supplies stock-piled in port. An American warship pulled into Vladivostok harbor to put a check on any Japanese action. These moves were the beginning of continued tension between the Americans and Japanese in Siberia.

In Manchuria, the Bolsheviks gained control of the Harbin Soviet.

On 13 December, at Kiev, the Ukrainian Central Rada issued a notice denying that the Council of Commissars in Petrograd represented all of Russia.

In the Don region, a small anti-Bolshevik Don Cossack partisan unit was formed by Esaul V.M. Chernetsov.

On 14 December, the Commander of Russian forces in Transcaucasia, General M.A. Przhevalskiy, signed an armistice with the Turks at Erzinjan. The Armenians formed an Army Corps.

At Petrograd, the Bolsheviks declared banking as a state monopoly, and established a Supreme Economic Council. Lenin again declared the Kadets as enemies of the people. Kadets were being hunted down by the dreaded secret police.

At Helsingfors, the Finnish Government sent a letter demanding withdrawal of Russian forces from Finland, since it was now an independent and neutral country. The Bolsheviks rejected the demand.

At Odessa, Red Guards seized the 6th Air Park, and began forming the Odessa AO (air unit), led by Podpolkovnik Samoilo.

At Petrograd, the Bolsheviks issued statistics on the composition of the aviation units still under their control, which showed 724 officer and soldier pilots at the front; 64 in schools; 25 with aviation divisions; 24 with avia groups; and 34 in avia parks. There were 553 officers, 318 soldiers, for a total of 871.