The law of June 4, 1871 (Equalization Law) did away with the historically developed special administration of the colonists. This national group was placed under the common Russian administration and assigned to the ministry of the Interior, the former ministry of domains. See also 2.3, The Changes from the Second Half of the 19th Century (1860-1918)

Important changes for the colonists were:

• The colonies were put in charge of the villages and they then were under the auspices of the government and district offices as well as the local offices for farm matters. It placed them into the same group to which non-colonists already belonged in Bessarabia earlier.
• Village and community administrations were restructured according to the Russian laws established by the common farmers’ administration. Semstwo administrations (See below) now came into power in the former colonies as well.
• Russian became the official language. The German colonists did not master the language (and not only in Krasna) and this was not feasible. A compromise was made and all oral communication was handled in German, written communication in Russian.
• The colonists were called “foreign settlers owning property” and the special status rescinded.

Self-administration introduced in the “Laws pertaining to the county government and district offices dated January 1, 1864” were called Semstwo, meaning district administration. Their task areas were relatively independent of the regular state offices. Their offices were:

• on government level
  • The government rural council, comprised of representatives elected in the district council;
  • The government land office comprised of a president and six members elected of their midst.
• on district level
  • the district land council, comprised of elected officials, elected in separate elections by property owners, city and rural communities;
  • The district land office, comprised of a president and two members, elected by the land council from their midst.

The officials of the Semstwo administration (land administration) were elected by following a complicated census system, not explained in depth here. The large landowners had the decisive vote. Farmers’ representatives did assist in the administration. For communities around Tarutino, including Krasna, from 1881-1916 Andreas Widmer was a member in the Akkerman Semstwo (district land office) ¹⁾

Until 1890, the Semstwo had a variety of tasks. It was the only local office for school administration, agriculture and farmers' matters, traffic and postal system, health care and other important issues. The average colonist hardly ever was in touch with regular state offices since the Semstwo handled practically every issue concerning a farm village.
The Semstwo also levied taxes to run its institutions. It was often the case that the Germans paid more than half of these costs for institutions only serving the Russian villages, as for instance for public schools, whereas the Germans supported their own schools with their own funds.
The relative independence of the Semstwo officials as state and communal agencies led to competency disputes within the administration. This was also a reason why after a few years (1890) Semstwo authority was curtailed. This was especially the case with elections. Farming communities could only nominate their candidates. The governor then named the Semstwo members.

Still the Semstwo remained important to Krasna (See also 5.2, The school in Krasna) and at the very end its democratic legitimacy was strengthened. E. Ruscheinsky writes: In 1917, after the fall of the tsar, the Semstwo laws were structured on a broad democratic foundation. The state then only supervised the legality of the Semstwo decrees without interference in administrative matters. This rule lasted only a short time because when Bessarabia soon after was annexed to Rumania the Semstwo was officially dissolved by a decree of October 4, 1918.

The simplified structure of the Russian administration pertinent to Krasna after 1871 is outlined below:

• Russia was divided into “Gouvernements,” supervised by the department of the Interior. Bessarabia formed such a Gouvernement. A governor, as the chief executive of the common country administration, headed it. His seat (office) was in Kischinev.
• The Gouvernement was divided into districts, called Ujesty and headed by a so-called “Kapitan-Ispravnik” (District Leader). He had a great deal of power. Krasna belonged to district Akkerman.
• After the welfare committee was abolished most of its responsibilities, insofar as they were not transferred to district or government levels, were given to the district land office of the Semstwo (Semskaya Uprawa) which governed the districts (Wolosti).
  • Initially the colonial inspectors of the welfare committee were replaced by so-called peace officers (Mirowie Posredniki), who had executive and judicial powers. ²⁾ This institution functioned only for a few years, before its tasks were transferred to the district land office.
  • In 1889 the office of the land bailiff (Zemskij natschalnik) was established. The bailiff was in charge of several Wolosts. The bailiff for Krasna was located in Tarutino. The first bailiff was named Jessaulow, followed by Welisari and Kunitzki (until WW I).
• Wolost (district) was the administrative office beneath the bailiff and it usually consisted of several villages. The head of a Wolost was called Wolostnoi starschina (District Elder or Chief Mayor). Initially the peace officer was his supervisor, later the bailiff. If several conditions were met, a village could form a Wolost and this was the case with Krasna.
• The lowest administrative organization was the Village Mayor, the Selskij starosta or Village Elder. In larger villages, he was supported by the “leaders of a hundred” called Stotskij (Sto = Hundred) and Desjatskij (Desjat = Zehn).

Looking at all the new regulations outlined here, one should refer to Hettner’s ³⁾ remarks about the Russian government at the end of the 19th century:
We have most excellent instructions on paper, but they are not carried out. I am certain that there are a few capable and competent men among them, but in general the officials are lazy and not dependable, have a tendency to use force, can be bribed and are dishonest, which can in part be explained by their low salaries which are often not enough to make a living.

Naturally, this also affected the German villages. The law was one thing, but compliance another. In spite of the great changes after 1871 the Germans were still able to sustain or buy their self-governing rights until the beginning of World War I.