Регионы и города России:
Regions and cities of Russia

Russia has a federal structure and includes 85 federal subjects, consisting of: 

• 46 ‘oblasts’, or regions. Usually consisting of a city and the area surrounding it; 

• 22 republics. They can also be called states inside the state, as they have their own constitutions and legislature (the Russian constitution still has an upper hand in resolving conflicting issues);

• 9 ‘krais’, or ‘frontiers’. In fact, they have the same legal status as oblasts, but historically they have stood on the frontier of Russia’s borders - thus the name;

• 4 autonomous ‘okrugs’, or ‘areas’. They have their own laws and are usually formed around an ethnic majority. They can participate in international business affairs, however, they don’t have their own constitutions like republics, for example.  

• 3 federal cities (cities that are de jure separate subjects). Moscow, St. Petersburg and Sevastopol;

• 1 autonomous ‘oblast’, or region. The Jewish Autonomous Oblast is Russia's only autonomous region.