Federal subjects of Russia

The federal subjects of Russia, also referred to as the subjects of the Russian Federation (Russian: субъекты Российской Федерации, romanized: subyekty Rossiyskoy Federatsii) or simply as the subjects of the federation (Russian: субъекты федерации, romanized: subyekty federatsii), are the constituent entities of Russia, its top-level political divisions. According to the Constitution of Russia, the federation consists of republics, krais, oblasts, cities of federal importance, an autonomous oblast, and autonomous okrugs, all of which are equal subjects of the federation.

Federal subjects Субъекты федерации (Russian)
Republics   Krais (territories)   Oblasts (regions)   Federal cities   Autonomous oblast (autonomous region)   Autonomous okrugs (autonomous areas with a substantial ethnic minority) Diagonal stripes indicate territory internationally recognized as parts of Ukraine.
Category	Federal semi-presidential constitutional republic
Location	Russian Federation
Created	12 December 1993
Number	83
Populations	41,431 (Nenets Autonomous Okrug) – 13,010,112 (Moscow)
Areas	864 km^2 (334 sq mi) (Sevastopol) – 3,103,200 km^2 (1,198,200 sq mi) (Sakha Republic)
Government	Regional governments, federal government
Subdivisions	Districts

Every federal subject has its own head, a parliament, and a constitutional court. Each subject has its own constitution or charter and legislation, although the authority of these organs differ. Subjects have equal rights in relations with federal government bodies. The subjects have equal representation – two delegates each – in the Federation Council, the upper house of the Federal Assembly. They differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy; republics are offered more autonomy.

Post-Soviet Russia formed during the history of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic within the USSR and did not change at the time of the dissolution of the Soviet Union in 1991. In 1992, during the so-called "parade of sovereignties", separatist sentiments and the War of Laws within Russia, the Russian regions signed the Federation Treaty (Russian: Федеративный договор, romanized: Federativnyy dogovor), establishing and regulating the current inner composition of Russia, based on the 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, adopted by federal referendum on 12 December 1993, came into force on 25 December 1993 and abolished the model of the Soviet system of government introduced in 1918 by Vladimir Lenin and based on the right to secede from the country and on unlimited sovereignty of federal subjects (in practice secession was never allowed), which conflicts with the country's integrity and federal laws. The new constitution eliminated a number of legal conflicts, reserved the rights of the regions, introduced local self-government and did not grant the Soviet-era 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 2000s, following the policies of Vladimir Putin and of the ruling United Russia party, 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.

The Russian Federation was composed of 89 federal subjects in 1993. Mergers reduced the number to 83 by 2008. Russia annexed Crimea from Ukraine in 2014, with the Russian government claiming Sevastopol and the Republic of Crimea to be the 84th and 85th federal subjects of Russia, a move that is not recognized internationally. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia claimed that it had annexed four Ukrainian oblasts, though they remain internationally recognized as part of Ukraine and are only partially occupied by Russia.

Terminology

An official government translation of the Constitution of Russia from Russian to English uses the term "constituent entities of the Russian Federation". For example, Article 5 reads: "The Russian Federation shall consist of republics, krais, oblasts, cities of federal significance, an autonomous oblast, and autonomous okrugs, which shall have equal rights as constituent entities of the Russian Federation." A translation provided by Garant-Internet instead uses the term "subjects of the Russian Federation".

Tom Fennell, a translator, told the 2008 American Translators Association conference that "constituent entity of the Russian Federation" is a better translation than "subject". This was supported by Tamara Nekrasova, Head of Translation Department at Goltsblat BLP, who said in a 2011 presentation at a translators conference that "constituent entity of the Russian Federation is more appropriate than subject of the Russian Federation (subject would be OK for a monarchy)".

Rank (as given in constitution and ISO)	Russian		English translations of the constitution		ISO 3166-2:RU (ISO 3166-2 Newsletter II-2 (2010-06-30))
	(Cyrillic)	(Latin)	Official	Unofficial
—	субъект Российской Федерации	sub'yekt Rossiyskoy Federatsii	constituent entity of the Russian Federation	subject of the Russian Federation	(not mentioned)
1	республика	respublika	republic
2	край	kray		territory	administrative territory
3	область	oblastʹ	oblast	region	administrative region
	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

Murmansk

Karelia

Leningrad

Saint
Petersburg

Kaliningrad

Pskov

Novgorod

Vologda

Arkhangelsk

Nenets

Komi

Tver

Yaroslavl

Kostroma

Smolensk

Moscow

Moscow

Vladimir

Ivanovo

Bryansk

Kaluga

Tula

Oryol

Kursk

Belgorod

Ryazan

Lipetsk

Tambov

Voronezh

Volgograd

Rostov

Kalmykia

Astrakhan

Krasnodar

Adygea

Stavropol

Karachay-
Cherkessia

Kabardino-
Balkaria

North Ossetia

Ingushetia

Chechnya

Dagestan

Nizhny
Novgorod

Kirov

Perm

Mordovia

Chuvashia

Mari El

Tatarstan

Udmurtia

Bashkortostan

Penza

Ulyanovsk

Samara

Saratov

Orenburg

Chelyabinsk

Kurgan

Sverdlovsk

Tyumen

Khanty-Mansi

Yamalo-Nenets

Omsk

Tomsk

Novosibirsk

Kemerovo

Altai

Altai

Khakassia

Tuva

Krasnoyarsk

Irkutsk

Buryatia

Zabaykalsky

Sakha

Amur

Jewish

Khabarovsk

Primorsky

Sakhalin

Magadan

Chukotka

Kamchatka

Crimea

Sevastopol

Luhansk

Donetsk

Zapo

Zaporizhzhia

Kherson

Each federal subject belongs to one of the following types:

Legend	Description
21 republics   3 unrecognized	Nominally autonomous, each with its own constitution, language, and legislature, but represented by the federal government in international affairs. Most are designated as the home to a specific ethnic minority as their titular nation or nations. Donetsk Oblast and Luhansk Oblast are internationally recognized as parts of Ukraine, but were partially occupied by Russian and Russian-controlled forces in 2014, and declared annexed by Russia as the Donetsk People's Republic and the Luhansk People's Republic in 2022. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is internationally recognized as a part of Ukraine, but was occupied and annexed by Russia as the Republic of Crimea in 2014.
9 krais	For all intents and purposes, krais are legally identical to oblasts. The title "krai" ("frontier" or "territory") is historic, related to geographic (frontier) position in a certain period of history. The current krais are not related to frontiers.
46 oblasts   2 unrecognized	The most common type, with a governor and locally elected legislature. Commonly named after their administrative centres. Kaliningrad Oblast is geographically separated from all the rest of Russia by other countries. Kherson Oblast and Zaporizhzhia Oblast are internationally recognized as parts of Ukraine, but were partially occupied by Russian forces and declared annexed in 2022.
2 federal cities   1 unrecognized	Major cities that function as separate regions and include other cities and towns (Zelenograd, Troitsk, Kronstadt, Kolpino, etc.) – keeping older structures of postal addresses. Sevastopol is internationally recognized as a part of Ukraine, but was occupied and annexed by Russia in 2014.
1 autonomous oblast	An Autonomous Oblast has increased powers compared to traditional oblasts, but not enough to be considered a Republic. The only one remaining is the Jewish Autonomous Oblast; Russia previously had 4 other Autonomous Oblasts that were changed into Republics on 3 July 1991.
4 autonomous okrugs	Occasionally referred to as "autonomous district", "autonomous area" or "autonomous region", each with a substantial or predominant ethnic minority designated as its titular nation. With the exception of Chukotka, each of the autonomous okrugs is part of another oblast (Arkhangelsk or Tyumen), as well as functioning as a federal subject by itself.

List

Federal subjects of the Russian Federation
Code	Name	Capital/ Administrative centre^[a]	Flag	Coat of arms	Type		Head of subject	Federal district	Economic region	Area (km^2)	Population		Est.
						Titular nation					Total	density (km^2)
01	Adygea	Maykop			republic	Circassians	Murat Kumpilov (UR)	Southern	North Caucasus	7,792	496,934	63.77	1922
02	Bashkortostan	Ufa				Bashkirs	Radiy Khabirov (UR)	Volga	Ural	142,947	4,091,423	28.62	1919
03	Buryatia	Ulan-Ude				Buryats	Alexey Tsydenov (UR)	Far Eastern	East Siberian	351,334	978,588	2.79	1923
04	Altai Republic	Gorno-Altaysk				Altai	Oleg Khorokhordin (Ind.)	Siberian	West Siberian	92,903	210,924	2.27	1922
05	Dagestan	Makhachkala				Aghuls, Avars, Azerbaijanis, Chechens, Dargins, Kumyks, Laks, Lezgins, Nogais, Rutuls, Tabasarans, Tats, Tsakhurs	Sergey Melikov (Ind.)	North Caucasian	North Caucasus	50,270	3,182,054	63.30	1921
06	Ingushetia	Magas (Largest city: Nazran)				Ingush	Mahmud-Ali Kalimatov (UR)	North Caucasian	North Caucasus	3,628	509,541	163.16	1992
07	Kabardino-Balkaria	Nalchik				Balkars, Kabardians	Kazbek Kokov (UR)	North Caucasian	North Caucasus	12,470	904,200	72.51	1936
08	Kalmykia	Elista				Kalmyks	Batu Khasikov (UR)	Southern	Volga	74,731	267,133	3.57	1957
09	Karachay-Cherkessia	Cherkessk				Abazins, Kabardians, Karachays, Nogais	Rashid Temrezov (UR)	North Caucasian	North Caucasus	14,277	469,865	32.91	1957
10	Karelia	Petrozavodsk				Karelians	Artur Parfenchikov (UR)	Northwestern	Northern	180,520	533,121	2.95	1956
11	Komi Republic	Syktyvkar				Komi	Vladimir Uyba (UR)	Northwestern	Northern	416,774	737,853	1.77	1921
12	Mari El	Yoshkar-Ola				Mari	Yury Zaitsev (UR, acting)	Volga	Volga-Vyatka	23,375	677,097	28.97	1920
13	Mordovia	Saransk				Mordvins	Artyom Zdunov (UR)	Volga	Volga-Vyatka	26,128	783,552	29.99	1930
14	Sakha	Yakutsk				Yakuts	Aysen Nikolayev (UR)	Far Eastern	Far Eastern	3,083,523	995,686	0.32	1922
15	North Ossetia–Alania	Vladikavkaz				Ossetians	Sergey Menyaylo (UR)	North Caucasian	North Caucasus	7,987	687,357	86.06	1924
16	Tatarstan	Kazan				Tatars	Rustam Minnikhanov (UR)	Volga	Volga	67,847	4,004,809	59.03	1920
17	Tuva	Kyzyl				Tuvans	Vladislav Khovalyg (UR)	Siberian	East Siberian	168,604	336,651	2.00	1944
18	Udmurtia	Izhevsk				Udmurts	Aleksandr Brechalov (UR)	Volga	Ural	42,061	1,452,914	34.54	1920
19	Khakassia	Abakan				Khakas	Valentin Konovalov (CPRF)	Siberian	East Siberian	61,569	534,795	8.69	1930
20^[e]	Chechnya	Grozny				Chechens	Ramzan Kadyrov (UR)	North Caucasian	North Caucasus	16,165	1,510,824	93.43	1991
21	Chuvashia	Cheboksary				Chuvash	Oleg Nikolayev (SRZP)	Volga	Volga-Vyatka	18,343	1,186,909	64.71	1920
22	Altai Krai	Barnaul			krai		Viktor Tomenko (UR)	Siberian	West Siberian	167,996	2,163,693	12.88	1937
23	Krasnodar Krai	Krasnodar					Veniamin Kondratyev (UR)	Southern	North Caucasus	75,485	5,838,273	77.34	1937
24	Krasnoyarsk Krai	Krasnoyarsk					Aleksandr Uss (UR)	Siberian	East Siberian	2,366,797	2,856,971	1.21	1934
25	Primorsky Krai	Vladivostok					Oleg Kozhemyako (UR)	Far Eastern	Far Eastern	164,673	1,845,165	11.21	1938
26	Stavropol Krai	Stavropol					Vladimir Vladimirov (UR)	North Caucasian	North Caucasus	66,160	2,907,593	43.95	1934
27	Khabarovsk Krai	Khabarovsk					Mikhail Degtyarev (LDPR)	Far Eastern	Far Eastern	787,633	1,292,944	1.64	1938
28	Amur Oblast	Blagoveshchensk			oblast		Vasily Orlov (UR)	Far Eastern	Far Eastern	361,908	766,912	2.12	1932
29	Arkhangelsk Oblast	Arkhangelsk					Alexander Tsybulsky (UR)	Northwestern	Northern	413,103	978,873	2.37	1937
30	Astrakhan Oblast	Astrakhan					Igor Babushkin (Ind.)	Southern	Volga	49,024	960,142	19.59	1943
31	Belgorod Oblast	Belgorod					Vyacheslav Gladkov (UR)	Central	Central Black Earth	27,134	1,540,486	56.77	1954
32	Bryansk Oblast	Bryansk					Alexander Bogomaz (UR)	Central	Central	34,857	1,169,161	33.54	1944
33	Vladimir Oblast	Vladimir					Aleksandr Avdeyev (UR, acting)	Central	Central	29,084	1,348,134	46.35	1944
34	Volgograd Oblast	Volgograd					Andrey Bocharov (Ind.)	Southern	Volga	112,877	2,500,781	22.15	1937
35	Vologda Oblast	Vologda (Largest city: Cherepovets)					Oleg Kuvshinnikov (UR)	Northwestern	Northern	144,527	1,142,827	7.91	1937
36	Voronezh Oblast	Voronezh					Aleksandr Gusev (UR)	Central	Central Black Earth	52,216	2,308,792	44.22	1934
37	Ivanovo Oblast	Ivanovo					Stanislav Voskresensky (Ind.)	Central	Central	21,437	927,828	43.28	1936
38	Irkutsk Oblast	Irkutsk					Igor Kobzev (Ind.)	Siberian	East Siberian	774,846	2,370,102	3.06	1937
39	Kaliningrad Oblast	Kaliningrad					Anton Alikhanov (UR)	Northwestern	Kaliningrad	15,125	1,029,966	68.10	1946
40	Kaluga Oblast	Kaluga					Vladislav Shapsha (UR)	Central	Central	29,777	1,069,904	35.93	1944
41	Kamchatka Krai	Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky			krai		Vladimir Solodov (Ind.)	Far Eastern	Far Eastern	464,275	291,705	0.63	2007
42	Kemerovo Oblast	Kemerovo			oblast		Sergey Tsivilyov (UR)	Siberian	West Siberian	95,725	2,600,923	27.17	1943
43	Kirov Oblast	Kirov					Aleksandr Sokolov (UR, acting)	Volga	Volga-Vyatka	120,374	1,153,680	9.58	1934
44	Kostroma Oblast	Kostroma					Sergey Sitnikov (Ind.)	Central	Central	60,211	580,976	9.65	1944
45	Kurgan Oblast	Kurgan					Vadim Shumkov (Ind.)	Ural	Ural	71,488	776,661	10.86	1943
46	Kursk Oblast	Kursk					Roman Starovoyt (UR)	Central	Central Black Earth	29,997	1,082,458	36.09	1934
47	Leningrad Oblast	Largest city: Gatchina^[b]					Aleksandr Drozdenko (UR)	Northwestern	Northwestern	83,908	2,000,997	23.85	1927
48	Lipetsk Oblast	Lipetsk					Igor Artamonov (UR)	Central	Central Black Earth	24,047	1,143,224	47.54	1954
49	Magadan Oblast	Magadan					Sergey Nosov (UR)	Far Eastern	Far Eastern	462,464	136,085	0.29	1953
50	Moscow Oblast	Largest city: Balashikha^[c]					Andrey Vorobyov (UR)	Central	Central	44,329	8,524,665	192.30	1929
51	Murmansk Oblast	Murmansk					Andrey Chibis (UR)	Northwestern	Northern	144,902	667,744	4.61	1938
52	Nizhny Novgorod Oblast	Nizhny Novgorod					Gleb Nikitin (UR)	Volga	Volga-Vyatka	76,624	3,119,115	40.71	1936
53	Novgorod Oblast	Veliky Novgorod					Andrey Nikitin (UR)	Northwestern	Northwestern	54,501	583,387	10.70	1944
54	Novosibirsk Oblast	Novosibirsk					Andrey Travnikov (UR)	Siberian	West Siberian	177,756	2,797,176	15.74	1937
55	Omsk Oblast	Omsk					Alexander Burkov (SRZP)	Siberian	West Siberian	141,140	1,858,798	13.17	1934
56	Orenburg Oblast	Orenburg					Denis Pasler (UR)	Volga	Ural	123,702	1,862,767	15.06	1934
57	Oryol Oblast	Oryol					Andrey Klychkov (CPRF)	Central	Central	24,652	713,374	28.94	1937
58	Penza Oblast	Penza					Oleg Melnichenko (UR)	Volga	Volga	43,352	1,266,348	29.21	1939
59	Perm Krai	Perm			krai		Dmitry Makhonin (Ind.)	Volga	Ural	160,236	2,532,405	15.80	2005
60	Pskov Oblast	Pskov			oblast		Mikhail Vedernikov (UR)	Northwestern	Northwestern	55,399	599,084	10.81	1944
61	Rostov Oblast	Rostov-on-Don					Vasily Golubev (UR)	Southern	North Caucasus	100,967	4,200,729	41.60	1937
62	Ryazan Oblast	Ryazan					Pavel Malkov (Ind.)	Central	Central	39,605	1,102,810	27.85	1937
63	Samara Oblast	Samara					Dmitry Azarov (UR)	Volga	Volga	53,565	3,172,925	59.24	1928
64	Saratov Oblast	Saratov					Roman Busargin (UR)	Volga	Volga	101,240	2,442,575	24.13	1936
65	Sakhalin Oblast	Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk					Valery Limarenko (UR)	Far Eastern	Far Eastern	87,101	466,609	5.36	1947
66	Sverdlovsk Oblast	Yekaterinburg					Yevgeny Kuyvashev (UR)	Ural	Ural	194,307	4,268,998	21.97	1935
67	Smolensk Oblast	Smolensk					Alexey Ostrovsky (LDPR)	Central	Central	49,779	888,421	17.85	1937
68	Tambov Oblast	Tambov					Maksim Yegorov (UR, acting)	Central	Central Black Earth	34,462	982,991	28.52	1937
69	Tver Oblast	Tver					Igor Rudenya (UR)	Central	Central	84,201	1,230,171	14.61	1935
70	Tomsk Oblast	Tomsk					Vladimir Mazur (UR, acting)	Siberian	West Siberian	314,391	1,062,666	3.38	1944
71	Tula Oblast	Tula					Aleksey Dyumin (UR)	Central	Central	25,679	1,501,214	58.46	1937
72	Tyumen Oblast	Tyumen					Aleksandr Moor (UR)	Ural	West Siberian	160,122	1,601,940	10.00	1944
73	Ulyanovsk Oblast	Ulyanovsk					Aleksey Russkikh (CPRF)	Volga	Volga	37,181	1,196,745	32.19	1943
74	Chelyabinsk Oblast	Chelyabinsk					Aleksey Teksler (UR)	Ural	Ural	88,529	3,431,224	38.76	1934
75	Zabaykalsky Krai	Chita			krai		Aleksandr Osipov (Ind.)	Far Eastern	East Siberian	431,892	1,004,125	2.32	2008
76	Yaroslavl Oblast	Yaroslavl			oblast		Mikhail Yevrayev (Ind.)	Central	Central	36,177	1,209,811	33.44	1936
77	Moscow				federal city		Sergey Sobyanin (UR)	Central	Central	2,561	13,010,112	5,080.09	1147
78	Saint Petersburg						Alexander Beglov (UR)	Northwestern	Northwestern	1,403	5,601,911	3,992.81	1703
79	Jewish Autonomous Oblast	Birobidzhan			autonomous oblast	Jews	Rostislav Goldstein (UR)	Far Eastern	Far Eastern	36,271	150,453	4.15	1934
80	Nenets Autonomous Okrug	Naryan-Mar			autonomous okrug	Nenets	Yury Bezdudny (UR)	Northwestern	Northern	176,810	41,434	0.23	1929
81	Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug	Khanty-Mansiysk (Largest city: Surgut)				Khanty, Mansi	Natalya Komarova (UR)	Ural	West Siberian	534,801	1,711,480	3.20	1930
82	Chukotka Autonomous Okrug	Anadyr				Chukchi	Roman Kopin (UR)	Far Eastern	Far Eastern	721,481	47,490	0.07	1930
83	Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug	Salekhard (Largest city: Novy Urengoy)				Nenets	Dmitry Artyukhov (UR)	Ural	West Siberian	769,250	510,490	0.66	1930

Contested territories situated within the internationally recognised borders of Ukraine
Code	Name	Capital/ Administrative centre^[a]	Flag	Coat of arms	Type		Head of subject	Federal district	Economic region	Area (km^2)	Population		Est.
						84					Republic of Crimea^[d]	Simferopol				republic		Sergey Aksyonov (UR)	Southern	North Caucasus	26,081	1,934,630	74.18	2014
85	Sevastopol^[d]				federal city		Mikhail Razvozhayev (UR)	Southern	North Caucasus	864	547,820	634.05	2014
86	Donetsk People's Republic^[d]^[f]	Donetsk			republic		Denis Pushilin (UR/ODDR)			26,517^[g]	4,100,280^[g]	154.63^[g]	2022
87	Luhansk People's Republic^[d]^[f]	Luhansk					Leonid Pasechnik (UR/ML)			26,684^[g]	2,121,322^[g]	79.50^[g]	2022
88	Zaporozhye Oblast^[d]^[f]	Melitopol (de facto) Zaporizhzhia (claimed)			oblast		Yevgeny Balitsky (UR)			27,183^[g]	1,666,515^[g]	61.31^[g]	2022
89	Kherson Oblast^[d]^[f]	Henichesk (de facto) Kherson (claimed) (Largest city: Kherson)					Vladimir Saldo (Ind.)			28,461^[g]	1,016,707^[g]	35.72^[g]	2022

Notes

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

b. ^{^} According to Article 13 of the Charter of Leningrad Oblast, the governing bodies of the oblast are located in the city of Saint Petersburg. However, Saint Petersburg is not officially the administrative centre of the oblast.

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

d. ^{^} Internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.

e. ^{^} In February 2000, the former code of 20 for the Chechen Republic was cancelled and replaced with code 95. License plate production was suspended due to the Chechen Wars, causing numerous issues, which in turn forced the region to use a new code.

f. ^{^} Claimed, but only partially controlled by Russia.

g. ^{^} As Russia only partially controls the region, this is a claimed figure.

Statistics of federal subjects

• List of federal subjects of Russia by GRP
• Armorial of Russia (Coat of arms of Russian federal subjects)
• 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 life expectancy
• 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
• Regional parliaments of Russia
• List of current heads of federal subjects of Russia
• Forest cover by federal subject in Russia
• ISO 3166-2:RU

Mergers, splits and internal territorial changes

Map of the federal subjects of Russia highlighting those that merged in the first decade of the 21st century (in yellow), and those whose merger has been discussed in the same decade (in orange)

Starting in 2005, some of the federal subjects were merged into larger territories. In this process, six very sparsely populated subjects (comprising in total 0.3% of the population of Russia) were integrated into more populated subjects, with the hope that the economic development of those territories would benefit from the much larger means of their neighbours. The merging process was finished on 1 March 2008. No new mergers have been planned since March 2008. The six territories became "administrative-territorial regions with special status". They have large proportions of minorities, with Russians being a majority only in three of them. Four of those territories have a second official language in addition to Russian: Buryat (in two of the merged territories), Komi-Permian, Koryak. This is an exception: all the other official languages of Russia (other than Russian) are set by the Constitutions of its constituent Republics (Mordovia, Chechnya, Dagestan etc.). The status of the "administrative-territorial regions with special status" has been a subject of criticism because it does not appear in the Constitution of the Russian Federation.

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

In addition to those six territories that entirely ceased to be subjects of the Russian Federation and were downgraded to territories with special status, another three subjects have a status of subject but are simultaneously part of a more populated subject:

• Nenets Autonomous Okrug (2010 population of 42090) has been a subject since 1993, but is also, according to its Constitution, part of Arkhangelsk Oblast
• Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug obtained autonomy in 1977, but is also part of Tyumen Oblast
• Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug obtained the status of subject in 1992 (after obtaining autonomy in 1977), but is also part of Tyumen Oblast.

With an estimated population of 49348 as of 2018, Chukotka is currently the least populated subject of Russia that is not part of a more populated subject. It was separated from Magadan Oblast in 1993. Chukotka is one of the richest subjects of Russia (with a Gross Regional Product [GRP] per capita equivalent to that of Australia) and therefore does not fit in the pattern of merging a subject to benefit from the economic dynamism of the neighbour.

In 1992, Ingushetia separated from Chechnya, both to stay away from the growing violence in Chechnya and as a bid to obtain the Eastern part of Northern Ossetia (it did not work: the Chechen conflict spread violence to Ingushetia, and North Ossetia retained its Prigorodny District). Those two Muslim republics, populated in vast majority (95%+) by closely related Vainakh people, speaking Vainakhish languages, remain the two poorest subjects of Russia, with the GRP per capita of Ingushetia being equivalent to that of Iraq. According to 2016 statistics, however, they are also the safest regions of Russia, and also have the lowest alcohol consumption, with alcohol poisoning at least 40 times lower than the federal average.

Until 1994, Sokolsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Oblast was part of Ivanovo Oblast.

In 2011–2012, the territory of Moscow increased by 140% (to 2,511 km² (970 sq mi)) by acquiring part of Moscow Oblast.

On 13 May 2020, the governors of Arkhangelsk Oblast and Nenets Autonomous Okrug announced their plan to merge following the collapse of oil prices stemming from the COVID-19 pandemic. The process was scrapped on 2 July due to its unpopularity among the population.

See also

• Subdivisions of Russia
• Federal districts of Russia
• Economic regions of Russia
• History of the administrative division of Russia
• Armorial of Russia
• Republics of the Soviet Union
• Flags of the Soviet Republics
• Flags of the federal subjects of Russia
• List of federal subjects of Russia by population
• List of heads of federal subjects of Russia
• Russian volunteer battalions

References

Notes

1. "Constitution of the Russian Federation". Government of the Russian Federation. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
2. This treaty consisted of three treaties, see also Concluding and Transitional Provisions: [1] [2]
3. Heaney, Dominic, ed. (2023). "The Government of the Russian Federation". The Territories of the Russian Federation 2023 (24th ed.). Abingdon: Routledge. pp. 43–51. ISBN 9781032469744.
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. "Putin to annex seized Ukrainian land, U.N. Warns of 'dangerous escalation'". Reuters. September 29, 2022.
6. "The Constitution of the Russian Federation". Garant-Internet. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
7. Knizhnik, Irina (2009). "On legal terminology, the jury is still out" (PDF). SlavFile. 18 (1). Slavic Languages Division, American Translators Association: 20. Archived (PDF) from the original on October 31, 2020. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
8. Nekrasova, Tamara (2011). "Traps & Mishaps in Legal Translation" (PDF). Eulita. Retrieved August 11, 2022.
9. Heaney, Dominic, ed. (2022). "Territorial Surveys". The Territories of the Russian Federation 2022 (23rd ed.). Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. ISBN 9781032249698.
10. The Territories of the Russian Federation 2012. Taylor & Francis. 2012. p. 5. ISBN 978-1-135-09584-0. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
11. Saunders, R.A. (2019). Historical Dictionary of the Russian Federation. Historical Dictionaries of Europe. Rowman & Littlefield Publishers. p. 232. ISBN 978-1-5381-2048-4. Retrieved October 6, 2019.
12. "Таблица 5. Численность населения России, федеральных округов, субъектов Российской Федерации, городских округов, муниципальных районов, муниципальных округов, городских и сельских поселений, городских населенных пунктов, сельских населенных пунктов с населением 3000 человек и более". Federal Service for State Registration, Cadastre and Cartography. Archived from the original on March 23, 2019. Retrieved March 4, 2019.
13. "Оценка численности постоянного населения по субъектам Российской Федерации". Federal State Statistics Service. Retrieved September 1, 2022.
14. "Crimea becomes part of vast Southern federal district of Russia". Retrieved July 29, 2016.
15. "В России создан Крымский федеральный округ". RBC. March 21, 2014. Archived from the original on March 22, 2014. Retrieved November 18, 2015.
16. Number of Present Population of Ukraine, as of January 1 "Чисельність наявного населення України на 1 січня 2021"(PDF) (in Ukrainian and English). Kyiv: State Statistics Service of Ukraine. Archived from the original (PDF) on December 21, 2021.
17. "БГД - Регионы России. Социально-экономические показатели - 2017 г." rosstat.gov.ru.
18. "Число умерших по основным классам и отдельным причинам смерти в расчете на 100000 населения за год". ЕМИСС. Archived from the original on March 26, 2018.
19. ""Рейтинг трезвости-2017": кто в России меньше всех пьет". Вести.Ru (in Russian). November 27, 2017. Archived from the original on July 2, 2023.
20. Quinn, Eilís (May 14, 2020). ""Catastrophic" economic situation prompts merger talks for Nenets AO and Arkhangelsk Oblast". The Barents Observer. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
21. "Russian Regions to Become Single Federal Subject in Decade-First". The Moscow Times. May 13, 2020. Retrieved May 15, 2020.
22. Antonova, Elizaveta (July 2, 2020). "The head of the Nenets Autonomous District declared refusal to unite with the Arkhangelsk region". RBC (in Russian). Retrieved July 6, 2020.

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.).