Shortly after the October Revolution in 1917, Finland declared its independence from the Soviet Union and Kuokkala became part of the new independent nation while retaining a significant ethnic Russian population. There was a skirmish between White and Red Finns at Kuokkala during the Finnish Civil War on 28 April 1918. Kuokkala was taken over by the Soviets when the Karelian Isthmus was ceded by Finland to the Soviet Union after the Winter War (1939–1940) and the Continuation War (1941–1944). Kuokkala became a part of the Leningrad Oblast in 1948 and was renamed Repino in memory of the painter Ilya Repin. After the war, the area was developed as a tourist area with several hotels and sanatoriums and was transferred to the jurisdiction of the city of St Petersburg as part of the Kurortny District