Political divisions of Russia

Russia is divided into several types and levels of subdivisions.

Federal districts

The federal districts are groupings of the federal subjects of Russia. Federal districts are not mentioned in the nation's constitution, do not have competences of their own, and do not manage regional affairs. They exist solely to monitor consistency between the federal and regional bodies of law, and ensure governmental control over the civil service, judiciary, and federal agencies operating in the regions. The federal district system was established on 13 May 2000. There are eight total federal districts.

Federal district Dateestablished Area[km2] 2021 census HDI (2021) GRDP (2022)₽ and US$ Federalsubjects Administrativecentre Largestcity Map Population Perkm2 Total Per capita North Caucasian 19 January 2010 170,400 10,171,000 60 0.793 ₽3.111 trillion($B) ($) 7 Pyatigorsk Makhachkala Southern 13 May 2000 427,800 16,746,000 39 0.799 ₽9.816 trillion($B) ($) 8 Rostov-on-Don Krasnodar Central 13 May 2000 650,200 40,342,000 62 0.845 ₽47.368 trillion($B) ($) 18 Moscow Northwestern 13 May 2000 1,687,000 13,917,000 8 0.833 ₽18.929 trillion($B) ($) 11 Saint Petersburg Volga 13 May 2000 1,037,000 28,943,000 28 0.804 ₽19.664 trillion($B) ($) 14 Nizhny Novgorod Kazan Ural 13 May 2000 1,818,500 12,301,000 7 0.839 ₽20.073 trillion($B) ($) 6 Yekaterinburg Siberian 13 May 2000 4,361,800 16,793,000 4 0.794 ₽13.054 trillion($B) ($) 10 Novosibirsk Far Eastern 13 May 2000 6,952,600 7,976,000 1 0.808 ₽8.656 trillion($B) ($) 11 Vladivostok Khabarovsk

Federal subjects

Since 30 September 2022, the Russian Federation has consisted of eighty-nine federal subjects that are constituent members of the Federation.Constitution, Article 65 However, six of these federal subjects—the Republic of Crimea, the Donetsk People's Republic, the Kherson Oblast, the Luhansk People's Republic, the federal city of Sevastopol, and the Zaporozhye Oblast—are internationally recognised as part of Ukraine. All federal subjects are of equal federal rights in the sense that they have equal representation—two delegates each—in the Federation Council (upper house of the Federal Assembly). They do, however, differ in the degree of autonomy they enjoy.

De jure, excluding the occupied Ukrainian territories, there are 6 types of federal subjects—21 republics, 9 krais, 46 oblasts, 2 federal cities, 1 autonomous oblast, and 4 autonomous okrugs.

Autonomous okrugs are the only ones that have an unusual status of being federal subjects in their own right, yet at the same time they are considered to be administrative divisions of other federal subjects (with the Chukotka Autonomous Okrug being the only exception).

Status of the Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia On 18 March 2014, as a part of the annexation of Crimea, and following the establishment of the Republic of Crimea (an independent entity that was recognised only by Russia), a treaty was signed between Russia and the Republic of Crimea incorporating the Republic of Crimea and the City of Sevastopol as constituent members of the Russian Federation.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") According to the Treaty, the Republic of Crimea is accepted as a federal subject with the status of a republic while the City of Sevastopol has received federal city status. Neither the Republic of Crimea nor the city of Sevastopol are politically recognised as parts of Russia by most countries."Putin signs Crimea treaty, will not seize other Ukraine regions", Reuters, 18 March 2014.

Similarly, Russia also annexed four Ukrainian oblasts of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk, and Zaporozhzhia on 30 September 2022 after internationally-unrecognised referendums held days prior, during the invasion of Ukraine that began in late February, which were organised by Russian occupation authorities in territories where hostilities were ongoing and much of the population had fled. It occurred seven months after the start of the invasion and less than a month after the start of the Ukrainian Kharkiv counteroffensive. The signing ceremony was held in the Grand Kremlin Palace in Moscow in the presence of occupation authority heads Leonid Pasechnik, Denis Pushilin, Yevgeny Balitsky, Vladimir Saldo, and Russian President Vladimir Putin. Like Crimea, none of the four occupied regions are internationally recognised as part of Russia.

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