Russia Warning: You are not logged in. Your IP address will be publicly visible if you make any edits. If you log in or create an account, your edits will be attributed to your username, along with other benefits.Anti-spam check. Do not fill this in! === Political divisions === {{Main|Political divisions of Russia}} Russia, by 1993 constitution, is a [[symmetric federalism|symmetric (with the possibility of an asymmetric configuration) federation]]. Unlike the Soviet [[Asymmetric federalism|asymmetric model]] of the RSFSR, where only republics were "subjects of the federation", the current constitution raised the status of other regions to the level of republics and made all regions equal with the title "subject of the federation". The regions of Russia have reserved areas of competence, but no regions have sovereignty, do not have the status of a sovereign state, do not have the right to indicate any sovereignty in their constitutions and do not have the right to secede from the country. The laws of the regions cannot contradict federal laws.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://base.garant.ru/12119810/|title=Постановление Конституционного Суда РФ от 07.06.2000 N 10-П "По делу о проверке конституционности отдельных положений Конституции Республики Алтай и Федерального закона "Об общих принципах организации законодательных (представительных) и исполнительных органов государственной власти субъектов Российской Федерации" | ГАРАНТ|website=base.garant.ru|access-date=12 May 2023|archive-date=10 April 2023|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20230410082832/https://base.garant.ru/12119810/|url-status=live}}</ref> The [[Federal subjects of Russia|federal subjects]]{{efn|Including bodies on territory disputed between Russia and Ukraine whose annexation has not been internationally recognised: the [[Republic of Crimea]] and the federal city of [[Sevastopol]] since the annexation of Crimea in 2014,<ref name="Pifer-2020"/> and territories set up following the [[Russian annexation of Donetsk, Kherson, Luhansk and Zaporizhzhia oblasts]] in 2022.|name=disputed}} have equal representation—two delegates each—in the [[Federation Council (Russia)|Federation Council]], the [[upper house]] of the Federal Assembly.<ref>{{cite web |title=Chapter 5. The Federal Assembly |work=[[Constitution of Russia]] |url=http://www.constitution.ru/en/10003000-06.htm |access-date=27 December 2007 |archive-date=4 March 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304074020/http://constitution.ru/en/10003000-06.htm |url-status=live }}</ref> They do, however, differ in the degree of [[Autonomous administrative division|autonomy]] they enjoy.<ref>{{cite journal |last1=KARTASHKIN |first1=V.A. |last2=ABASHIDZE |first2=A.KH. |year=2004 |jstor=24675138 |title=Autonomy in the Russian Federation: Theory and Practice |journal=International Journal on Minority and Group Rights |volume=10 |number=3 |pages=203–220 |publisher=[[Brill Publishers|Brill]]|doi=10.1163/1571811031310738 }}</ref> The [[federal districts of Russia]] were established by Putin in 2000 to facilitate central government control of the federal subjects.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Petrov |first=Nikolai |title=Seven Faces of Putin's Russia: Federal Districts as the New Level of State–Territorial Composition |jstor=26298005 |publisher=[[SAGE Publishing]] |journal=[[Security Dialogue]] |volume=33 |number=1 |date=March 2002 |pages=73–91|doi=10.1177/0967010602033001006 |s2cid=153455573 }}</ref> Originally seven, currently there are eight federal districts, each headed by an envoy appointed by the president.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Russell |first=Martin |url=https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2015/569035/EPRS_IDA(2015)569035_EN.pdf |title=Russia's constitutional structure |journal=[[European Parliamentary Research Service]] |publisher=[[European Parliament]] |date=2015 |access-date=3 November 2021 |isbn=978-92-823-8022-2 |doi=10.2861/664907 |archive-date=26 February 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220226005739/https://www.europarl.europa.eu/RegData/etudes/IDAN/2015/569035/EPRS_IDA(2015)569035_EN.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> [[File:Map of federal subjects of Russia (2022), disputed Crimea and Donbass.svg|center|600px|frameless]] {| class="wikitable sortable" |- ! Federal subjects ! Governance |- | {{legend|#FFEC77|46 [[oblasts of Russia|oblast]]s}} | The most common type of federal subject with a governor and locally elected legislature. Commonly named after their administrative centres.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Hale |first=Henry E. |title=The Makeup and Breakup of Ethnofederal States: Why Russia Survives Where the USSR Fell |journal=[[Perspectives on Politics]] |pages=55–70 |volume=3 |number=1 |date=March 2005 |publisher=[[American Political Science Association]] |doi=10.1017/S153759270505005X |jstor=3688110|s2cid=145259594 }}</ref> |- | {{legend|#00C160|22 [[Republics of Russia|republics]]}} | Each is nominally autonomous—home to a specific [[Ethnic groups in Russia|ethnic minority]], and has its own constitution, language, and legislature, but is represented by the federal government in international affairs.<ref>{{Cite book |last1=Orttung |first1=Robert |last2=Lussier |first2=Danielle |last3=Paetskaya |first3=Anna |title=The Republics and Regions of the Russian Federation: A Guide to Politics, Policies, and Leaders |publisher=[[EastWest Institute]] |date=2000 |isbn=978-0-7656-0559-7 |location=New York |pages=523–524}}</ref> |- | {{legend|#FF9400|9 [[krais of Russia|krai]]s}} | 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.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Shabad |first=Theodore |title=Political-Administrative Divisions of the U.S.S.R., 1945 |journal=[[Geographical Review]] |publisher=[[Taylor & Francis]] |volume=36 |number=2 |pages=303–311 |date=April 1946 |doi=10.2307/210882 |jstor=210882|bibcode=1946GeoRv..36..303S }}</ref> |- | {{legend|#006989|4 [[autonomous okrugs of Russia|autonomous okrugs]]}} | Occasionally referred to as "autonomous district", "autonomous area", and "autonomous region", each with a substantial or predominant ethnic minority.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Sharafutdinova |first=Gulnaz |title=When Do Elites Compete? The Determinants of Political Competition in Russian Regions |pages=273–293 |volume=38 |number=3 |date=April 2006 |journal=[[Comparative Politics]] |publisher=Comparative Politics, Ph.D. Programs in Political Science, [[City University of New York]] |doi=10.2307/20433998 |jstor=20433998}}</ref> |- | {{legend|#FF0037|3 [[federal cities of Russia|federal cities]]}} | Major cities that function as separate regions (Moscow and Saint Petersburg, as well as [[Sevastopol]] in Russian-occupied Ukraine).<ref>{{cite journal |last1=Kelesh |first1=Yulia V. |last2=Bessonova |first2=Elena A. |title=Digitalization management system of Russia's federal cities focused on prospective application throughout the country |journal=SHS Web of Conferences |url=https://www.shs-conferences.org/articles/shsconf/pdf/2021/21/shsconf_icemt2021_05011.pdf |volume=110 |number=5011 |doi=10.1051/shsconf/202111005011 |date=11 June 2021 |page=05011 |s2cid=236655658 |access-date=24 January 2022 |archive-date=27 January 2022 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220127232543/https://www.shs-conferences.org/articles/shsconf/pdf/2021/21/shsconf_icemt2021_05011.pdf |url-status=live }}</ref> |- | {{legend|#C300FF|1 autonomous oblast}} | The only autonomous oblast is the [[Jewish Autonomous Oblast]].<ref>{{cite journal |last=Alessandro |first=Vitale |title=Ethnopolitics as Co-operation and Coexistence: The Case-Study of the Jewish Autonomous Region in Siberia |journal=Politeja |year=2015 |number=31/2 |pages=123–142 |jstor=24919780 |publisher=Księgarnia Akademicka |doi=10.12797/Politeja.12.2015.31_2.09|s2cid=132962208 |doi-access=free }}</ref> |} Summary: Please note that all contributions to Christianpedia may be edited, altered, or removed by other contributors. 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