Administrative Divisions of Russia - Administrative Divisions

Administrative Divisions

Prior to the adoption of the 1993 Constitution of Russia, the administrative-territorial structure of Russia was regulated by the Decree of the Presidium of the Supreme Soviet of the RSFSR of August 17, 1982 "On the Procedures of Dealing with the Matters of the Administrative-Territorial Structure of the RSFSR". The 1993 Constitution, however, did not identify the matters of the administrative-territorial divisions as the responsibility of the federal government or as the joint responsibility of the federal government and the federal subjects. This was interpreted by the governments of the federal subjects as a sign that the matters of the administrative-territorial divisions became solely the responsibility of the federal subjects. As a result, the modern administrative-territorial structures of the federal subjects vary significantly from one federal subject to another. While the implementation details may be considerably different, in general, however, the following types of high-level administrative divisions are recognized:

• raions (administrative districts)
• cities/towns and urban-type settlements of federal subject significance
• closed administrative-territorial formations

Autonomous okrugs and okrugs are intermediary units of administrative divisions, which include some of the federal subject's raions and cities/towns/urban-type settlements of the federal subject significance.

• Autonomous okrugs, while being under the jurisdiction of another federal subject, are still constitutionally recognized as federal subjects on their own right. Chukotka Autonomous Okrug is an exception to this description in that it is not administratively subordinated to any other federal subject of Russia.
• Okrugs are usually former autonomous okrugs which lost their federal subject status due to mergers with other federal subjects.

Typical lower-level administrative divisions include:

• selsoviets (rural councils)
• towns and urban-type settlements of the administrative district significance
• city districts