Federal subjects of Russia

The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation (Russian: субъекты Российской Федерации subyekty Rossiyskoy Federatsii) or simply as the subjects of the federation (Russian: субъекты федерации subyekty federatsii), are the constituent entities of Russia, its top-level political divisions according to the Constitution of Russia.^[1] Since March 18, 2014, the Russian Federation constitutionally consists of 85 federal subjects,^[2] although the two most recently added subjects are internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.^[3][4]

According to the Russian Constitution, the Russian Federation consists of republics, krais, oblasts, cities of federal importance, an autonomous oblast, and autonomous okrugs, all of which are equal subjects of the Russian Federation.^[5] Three Russian cities of federal importance have a status of both city and separate federal subject which comprises other cities and towns (Zelenograd, Troitsk, Kronstadt, Kolpino, etc.) within federal city keeping old structure of postal address. In 1993, there were 89 federal subjects listed. By 2008, the number of federal subjects had been decreased to 83 because of several mergers. In 2014, Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea became the 84th and 85th federal subjects of Russia.

Every federal subject has its own head, a parliament, and a constitutional court. Federal subjects have their own constitution and legislation. Subjects have equal rights in relations with federal government bodies.^[6][7] The federal subjects have equal representation—two delegates each—in the Federation Council, the upper house of the Federal Assembly. They do, however, differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy (asymmetric federalism).

Composition of post-Soviet Russia was formed during the history of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic within the USSR and didn't change in the moment of dissolution of the USSR. In 1992 during so-called "parade of sovereignties", separatist sentiments and the War of Laws within Russia, the Russian regions signed the Federation Treaty (Russian: Федеративный договор Federativny Dogovor),^[8] establishing and regulating the current inner composition of Russia, based on division of authorities and powers among Russian government bodies and government bodies of constituent entities. The Federation Treaty was included in the text of the 1978 Constitution of the Russian SFSR. The current Constitution of Russia was adopted by national referendum, came into force on December 25, 1993 and abolished the model of Soviet system of government introduced in 1918 by Vladimir Lenin based on right to secede from the country and unlimited sovereignty of federal subjects (in practice it was never allowed), which conflicts with country's integrity and federal laws. The new constitution eliminated a number of legal conflicts, reserved rights of the regions, introduced the institute of local self-government and didn't grant Soviet-time right to secede from the country. In the late 1990s and early 2000s, the political system became de jure closer to other modern federal states with a republican form of government in the world. In the 2000s, according to the policy of Vladimir Putin and the United Russia party (dominant party in all federal subjects), the Russian parliament changed the distribution of tax revenues, reduced the number of elections in the regions and gave more power to the federal authorities.

There are several groupings of Russian regions. Federal subjects should not be confused with the eight Federal districts which are not subdivisions of Russia, are much larger and each encompass many federal subjects. Federal districts were created by Executive Order of the President of Russia specially for presidential envoys. Time zones are defined by the Order of the federal government, the composition of Judicial districts is defined by the federal law "On arbitration courts", Economic regions are administrated by the Ministry of Economic Development, the Ministry of Defense uses the terminology of Military districts.

Terminology

An official government translation of the Constitution of Russia in Article 5 states:^[9] "1. The Russian Federation shall consist of republics, krays, oblasts, cities of federal significance, an autonomous oblast and autonomous okrugs, which shall have equal rights as constituent entities of the Russian Federation."

Another translation of the Constitution of Russia gives for article 65: "The Russian Federation includes the following subjects of the Russian Federation:".^[10]

How to translate the Russian term was discussed during the 49th annual American Translators Association conference in Orlando, in which Tom Fennel, a freelance translator, argued that the term "constituent entity of the Russian Federation" should be preferred to "subject".^[11] This recommendation is also shared by Tamara Nekrasova, Head of Translation Department, Goltsblat BLP, who in her "Traps & Mishaps in Legal Translation" presentation in Paris stated that "constituent entity of the Russian Federation is more appropriate than subject of the Russian Federation (subject would be OK for a monarchy)".^[12]

Rank (as given in constitution and ISO)	Russian (Cyrillic)	Russian (Latin)	English – official translation of the constitution [13]	English – unofficial translation of the constitution[10]	ISO 3166-2:RU (ISO 3166-2 Newsletter II-2 (2010-06-30))
N/A	субъект Российской Федерации	subʺyekt Rossiyskoy Federatsii	constituent entity of the Russian Federation	subject of the Russian Federation	(not mentioned)
1	республика	respublika	republic	republic	republic
2	край	kray	kray	territory	administrative territory
3	область	oblastʹ	oblast	region	administrative region
4	город федерального значения	gorod federalʹnogo znacheniya	city of federal significance	city of federal importance	autonomous city (the Russian term used in ISO 3166-2 is автономный город avtonomnyy gorod)
5	автономная область	avtonomnaya oblastʹ	autonomous oblast	autonomous region	autonomous region
6	автономный округ	avtonomnyy okrug	autonomous okrug	autonomous area	autonomous district

Types

Each federal subject belongs to one of the following types:

Legend	Description
46 oblasts	most common type of federal subjects with a governor and locally elected legislature. Commonly named after their administrative centers.
22 republics	nominally autonomous, each has its own constitution and legislature; is represented by the federal government in international affairs; is meant to be home to a specific ethnic minority.
9 krais	essentially the same as oblasts. The title "territory" is historic, originally given because they were once considered frontier regions.
4 autonomous okrugs	with substantial or predominant ethnic minority
3 federal cities	major cities that function as separate regions.
1 autonomous oblast	the only autonomous oblast is the Jewish Autonomous Oblast

List

Code	Name	Capital/Administrative center^[a]	Flag	Coat of arms	Federal district	Economic region	Area (km^2)[14]	Population [15]	Year established
01	Adygea, Republic of	Maykop			Southern	North Caucasus	7,600	447,109	1922
02	Bashkortostan, Republic of	Ufa			Volga	Ural	143,600	4,104,336	1919
03	Buryatia, Republic of	Ulan-Ude			Siberian	East Siberian	351,300	981,238	1923
04	Altai Republic	Gorno-Altaysk			Siberian	West Siberian	92,600	202,947	1922
05	Dagestan, Republic of	Makhachkala			North Caucasian	North Caucasus	50,300	2,576,531	1921
06	Ingushetia, Republic of	Magas (Largest city: Nazran)			North Caucasian	North Caucasus	4,000	467,294	1992
07	Kabardino-Balkar Republic	Nalchik			North Caucasian	North Caucasus	12,500	901,494	1936
08	Kalmykia, Republic of	Elista			Southern	Volga	76,100	292,410	1957
09	Karachay-Cherkess Republic	Cherkessk			North Caucasian	North Caucasus	14,100	439,470	1957
10	Karelia, Republic of	Petrozavodsk			Northwestern	Northern	172,400	716,281	1956
11	Komi Republic	Syktyvkar			Northwestern	Northern	415,900	1,018,674	1921
12	Mari El Republic	Yoshkar-Ola			Volga	Volga-Vyatka	23,200	727,979	1920
13	Mordovia, Republic of	Saransk			Volga	Volga-Vyatka	26,200	888,766	1930
14	Sakha (Yakutia) Republic	Yakutsk			Far Eastern	Far Eastern	3,103,200	949,280	1922
15	North Ossetia-Alania, Republic of	Vladikavkaz			North Caucasian	North Caucasus	8,000	710,275	1924
16	Tatarstan, Republic of	Kazan			Volga	Volga	68,000	3,779,265	1920
17	Tuva Republic	Kyzyl			Siberian	East Siberian	170,500	305,510	1944
18	Udmurt Republic	Izhevsk			Volga	Ural	42,100	1,570,316	1920
19	Khakassia, Republic of	Abakan			Siberian	East Siberian	61,900	546,072	1930
20	Chechen Republic	Grozny			North Caucasian	North Caucasus	15,300	1,103,686	1991
21	Chuvash Republic	Cheboksary			Volga	Volga-Vyatka	18,300	1,313,754	1920
22	Altai Krai	Barnaul			Siberian	West Siberian	169,100	2,607,426	1937
75	Zabaykalsky Krai	Chita			Siberian	East Siberian	431,500	1,155,346	2008
41	Kamchatka Krai	Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky			Far Eastern	Far Eastern	472,300	358,801	2007
23	Krasnodar Krai	Krasnodar			Southern	North Caucasus	76,000	5,125,221	1937
24	Krasnoyarsk Krai	Krasnoyarsk			Siberian	East Siberian	2,339,700	2,966,042	1934
90	Perm Krai	Perm			Volga	Ural	160,600	2,819,421	2005
25	Primorsky Krai	Vladivostok			Far Eastern	Far Eastern	165,900	2,071,210	1938
26	Stavropol Krai	Stavropol			North Caucasian	North Caucasus	66,500	2,735,139	1934
27	Khabarovsk Krai	Khabarovsk			Far Eastern	Far Eastern	788,600	1,436,570	1938
28	Amur Oblast	Blagoveshchensk			Far Eastern	Far Eastern	363,700	902,844	1932
29	Arkhangelsk Oblast	Arkhangelsk			Northwestern	Northern	587,400	1,336,539	1937
30	Astrakhan Oblast	Astrakhan			Southern	Volga	44,100	1,005,276	1943
31	Belgorod Oblast	Belgorod			Central	Central Black Earth	27,100	1,511,620	1954
32	Bryansk Oblast	Bryansk			Central	Central	34,900	1,378,941	1944
33	Vladimir Oblast	Vladimir			Central	Central	29,000	1,523,990	1944
34	Volgograd Oblast	Volgograd			Southern	Volga	113,900	2,699,223	1937
35	Vologda Oblast	Vologda (Largest city: Cherepovets)			Northwestern	Northern	145,700	1,269,568	1937
36	Voronezh Oblast	Voronezh			Central	Central Black Earth	52,400	2,378,803	1934
37	Ivanovo Oblast	Ivanovo			Central	Central	21,800	1,148,329	1936
38	Irkutsk Oblast	Irkutsk			Siberian	East Siberian	767,900	2,581,705	1937
39	Kaliningrad Oblast	Kaliningrad			Northwestern	Kaliningrad	15,100	955,281	1946
40	Kaluga Oblast	Kaluga			Central	Central	29,900	1,041,641	1944
42	Kemerovo Oblast	Kemerovo (Largest city: Novokuznetsk)			Siberian	West Siberian	95,500	2,899,142	1943
43	Kirov Oblast	Kirov			Volga	Volga-Vyatka	120,800	1,503,529	1934
44	Kostroma Oblast	Kostroma			Central	Central	60,100	736,641	1944
45	Kurgan Oblast	Kurgan			Ural	Ural	71,000	1,019,532	1943
46	Kursk Oblast	Kursk			Central	Central Black Earth	29,800	1,235,091	1934
47	Leningrad Oblast	Largest city: Gatchina^[b]			Northwestern	Northwestern	84,500	1,669,205	1927
48	Lipetsk Oblast	Lipetsk			Central	Central Black Earth	24,100	1,213,499	1954
49	Magadan Oblast	Magadan			Far Eastern	Far Eastern	461,400	182,726	1953
50	Moscow Oblast	Largest city: Balashikha^[c]			Central	Central	44,300[16]	6,618,538	1929
51	Murmansk Oblast	Murmansk			Northwestern	Northern	144,900	892,534	1938
52	Nizhny Novgorod Oblast	Nizhny Novgorod			Volga	Volga-Vyatka	76,900	3,524,028	1936
53	Novgorod Oblast	Veliky Novgorod			Northwestern	Northwestern	55,300	694,355	1944
54	Novosibirsk Oblast	Novosibirsk			Siberian	West Siberian	178,200	2,692,251	1937
55	Omsk Oblast	Omsk			Siberian	West Siberian	139,700	2,079,220	1934
56	Orenburg Oblast	Orenburg			Volga	Ural	124,000	2,179,551	1934
57	Oryol Oblast	Oryol			Central	Central	24,700	860,262	1937
58	Penza Oblast	Penza			Volga	Volga	43,200	1,452,941	1939
60	Pskov Oblast	Pskov			Northwestern	Northwestern	55,300	760,810	1944
61	Rostov Oblast	Rostov-on-Don			Southern	North Caucasus	100,800	4,404,013	1937
62	Ryazan Oblast	Ryazan			Central	Central	39,600	1,227,910	1937
63	Samara Oblast	Samara			Volga	Volga	53,600	3,239,737	1928
64	Saratov Oblast	Saratov			Volga	Volga	100,200	2,668,310	1936
65	Sakhalin Oblast	Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk			Far Eastern	Far Eastern	87,100	546,695	1947
66	Sverdlovsk Oblast	Yekaterinburg			Ural	Ural	194,800	4,486,214	1935
67	Smolensk Oblast	Smolensk			Central	Central	49,800	1,049,574	1937
68	Tambov Oblast	Tambov			Central	Central Black Earth	34,300	1,178,443	1937
69	Tver Oblast	Tver			Central	Central	84,100	1,471,459	1935
70	Tomsk Oblast	Tomsk			Siberian	West Siberian	316,900	1,046,039	1944
71	Tula Oblast	Tula			Central	Central	25,700	1,675,758	1937
72	Tyumen Oblast	Tyumen			Ural	West Siberian	1,435,200	3,264,841	1944
73	Ulyanovsk Oblast	Ulyanovsk			Volga	Volga	37,300	1,382,811	1943
74	Chelyabinsk Oblast	Chelyabinsk			Ural	Ural	87,900	3,603,339	1934
76	Yaroslavl Oblast	Yaroslavl			Central	Central	36,400	1,367,398	1936
77	Moscow	—			Central	Central	2,511	10,382,754
78	Saint Petersburg	—			Northwestern	Northwestern	1,439	4,662,547
79	Jewish Autonomous Oblast	Birobidzhan			Far Eastern	Far Eastern	36,000	190,915	1934
83	Nenets Autonomous Okrug	Naryan-Mar			Northwestern	Northern	176,700	41,546	1929
86	Khanty–Mansi Autonomous Okrug – Yugra	Khanty-Mansiysk (Largest city: Surgut)			Ural	West Siberian	523,100	1,432,817	1930
87	Chukotka Autonomous Okrug	Anadyr			Far Eastern	Far Eastern	737,700	53,824	1930
89	Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug	Salekhard (Largest city: Novy Urengoy)			Ural	West Siberian	750,300	507,006	1930
82	Crimea, Republic of^[d]	Simferopol			Southern[17][18]	—	26,964[19]	1,966,801[20]	2014
92	Sevastopol^[d]	—			Southern[17][18]	—	864[21]	379,200[21]	2014

a. ^{^} The largest city is also listed when it is different from the capital/administrative center.

b. ^{^} According to Article 13 of the Charter of Leningrad Oblast, the government bodies of the oblast are located in the city of St. Petersburg. However, St. Petersburg is not officially named to be the administrative center of the oblast.

c. ^{^} According to Article 24 of the Charter of Moscow Oblast, the government bodies of the oblast are located in the city of Moscow and throughout the territory of Moscow Oblast. However, Moscow is not officially named to be the administrative center of the oblast.

d. ^{^} Not recognized internationally as a part of Russia.

Lists of federal subjects

• List of federal subjects of Russia by GRP
• List of federal subjects of Russia by incidence of substance abuse
• List of federal subjects of Russia by GDP per capita
• List of federal subjects of Russia by murder rate
• List of federal subjects of Russia by population
• List of federal subjects of Russia by total fertility rate
• List of federal subjects of Russia by Human Development Index
• List of federal subjects of Russia by unemployment rate
• List of current heads of federal subjects of Russia
• ISO 3166-2:RU

Mergers

Federal subjects of Russia

Starting in 2005, some of the federal subjects were merged into larger territories. The merging process was finished on March 1, 2008. No new mergers have been planned since March 2008.

Date of referendum	Date of merger	Original entities	Original codes	New code	Original entities	New entity
2003-12-07	2005-12-01	1, 1a	59 (1), 81 (1a)	90	Perm Oblast (1) + Komi-Permyak Autonomous Okrug (1a)	Perm Krai
2005-04-17	2007-01-01	2, 2a, 2b	24 (2), 88 (2a), 84 (2b)	24	Krasnoyarsk Krai (2) + Evenk Autonomous Okrug (2a) + Taymyr Autonomous Okrug (2b)	Krasnoyarsk Krai
2005-10-23	2007-07-01	3, 3a	41 (3), 82 (3a)	91	Kamchatka Oblast (3) + Koryak Autonomous Okrug (3a)	Kamchatka Krai
2006-04-16	2008-01-01	4, 4a	38 (4), 85 (4a)	38	Irkutsk Oblast (4) + Ust-Orda Buryat Autonomous Okrug (4a)	Irkutsk Oblast
2007-03-11	2008-03-01	5, 5a	75 (5), 80 (5a)	92	Chita Oblast (5) + Agin-Buryat Autonomous Okrug (5a)	Zabaykalsky Krai

See also

• Subdivisions of Russia
• Federal districts of Russia
• Economic regions of Russia
• History of the administrative division of Russia
• Flags of the federal subjects of Russia
• Republics of the Soviet Union
• Flags of the Soviet Republics

References

Notes

1. "The Constitution of the Russian Federation: Chapter 3, The Federal Structure". Retrieved 2013-04-28.
2. "Constitution of the Russian Federation". Russian Presidential Executive Office. Retrieved 2013-04-28.
3. Kremlin.ru. Договор между Российской Федерацией и Республикой Крым о принятии в Российскую Федерацию Республики Крым и образовании в составе Российской Федерации новых субъектов (Treaty Between the Russian Federation and the Republic of Crimea on Ascension to the Russian Federation of the Republic of Crimea and on Establishment of New Subjects Within the Russian Federation) (Russian)
4. Steve Gutterman and Pavel Polityuk (March 18, 2014). "Putin signs Crimea treaty as Ukraine serviceman dies in attack". Reuters. Retrieved May 7, 2016.
5. "Chapter 1. The Fundamentals of the Constitutional System - The Constitution of the Russian Federation". Retrieved May 7, 2016.
6. "Конституция Российской Федерации". Retrieved May 7, 2016.
7. Chapter 1. The Fundamentals of the Constitutional System | The Constitution of the Russian Federation. Constitution.ru. Retrieved on 2013-08-20.
8. this treaty consisted of three treaties, see also Concluding and Transitional Provisions:
9. http://archive.government.ru/eng/gov/base/54.html (accessed="2014-10-17")
10. "Chapter 3. The Federal Structure - The Constitution of the Russian Federation". Retrieved May 7, 2016.
11. SlavFile Archive | Slavic Languages Division. Ata-divisions.org. Retrieved on 2013-08-20.
12. http://eulita.eu/sites/default/files/Tammy_presentation.pdf
13. "Official Website of the Government of the Russian Federation / The Russian Government". Retrieved May 7, 2016.
14. Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (2004-05-21). "Территория, число районов, населённых пунктов и сельских администраций по субъектам Российской Федерации (Territory, Number of Districts, Inhabited Localities, and Rural Administration by Federal Subjects of the Russian Federation)". Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года (All-Russia Population Census of 2002) (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved 2008-04-18.
15. Федеральная служба государственной статистики (Federal State Statistics Service) (2004-05-21). "Численность населения России, субъектов Российской Федерации в составе федеральных округов, районов, городских поселений, сельских населённых пунктов – районных центров и сельских населённых пунктов с населением 3 тысячи и более человек (Population of Russia, its federal districts, federal subjects, districts, urban localities, rural localities—administrative centers, and rural localities with population of over 3,000)". Всероссийская перепись населения 2002 года (All-Russia Population Census of 2002) (in Russian). Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved 2008-06-23.
16. "1.1. ОСНОВНЫЕ СОЦИАЛЬНО-ЭКОНОМИЧЕСКИЕ ПОКАЗАТЕЛИ в 2014 г." [MAIN SOCIOECONOMIC INDICATORS 2014]. Regions of Russia. Socioeconomic indicators - 2015 (in Russian). Russian Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved 26 July 2016.
17. "Crimea becomes part of vast Southern federal district of Russia". Retrieved 2016-07-29.
18. "В России создан Крымский федеральный округ". RBC. March 21, 2014.
19. "Autonomous Republic of Crimea". Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Ukraine. Retrieved 2014-03-25.
20. "Population as of February 1, 2014. Average annual populations January 2014". ukrstat.gov.ua. Retrieved 2015-10-18.
21. "A General data of the region". Sevastopol City State Administration. Retrieved 2014-04-07.

Sources

• 12 декабря 1993 г. «Конституция Российской Федерации», в ред. Федерального конституционного закона №7-ФКЗ от 30 декабря 2008 г. Вступил в силу со дня официального опубликования. Опубликован: "Российская газета", №237, 25 декабря 1993 г. (December 12, 1993 Constitution of the Russian Federation, as amended by the Federal Constitutional Law #7-FKZ of December 30, 2008. Effective as of the official publication date.).