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The Stavka (Russian and Ukrainian:[1] Ставка, Belarusian: Стаўка) is a name of the high command of the armed forces used formerly in the Russian Empire and Soviet Union and currently in Ukraine.
In Imperial Russia Stavka referred to the administrative staff, and to the General Headquarters in the late 19th-century Imperial Russian armed forces and subsequently in the Soviet Union. In Western literature it is sometimes written in uppercase (STAVKA), although it is not an acronym. Stavka may refer to its members, as well as to the headquarters location (its original meaning from the old Russian word ставка, 'tent').