Okrug (окръг; Serbian and о́круг; округа, translit. okruha; Polish okręg) is an administrative division of some Eastern European Slavic states. The word "okrug" is a loanword in English, but it is nevertheless often translated as "area", "district", or "region". Etymologically, the word is similar to the German word Bezirk ("district") or the French word Arrondissement; all of the three—okrug, Bezirk and Arrondissement—refer to something "encircled" or "surrounded" (compare circle (country subdivision)).

Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, okrugs, translated as "districts" or "counties", were the first-level subdivisions of Bulgaria that existed between 1946 and 1987. They correspond approximately to today's oblasts.

Imperial Russia

Okrugs were a type of administrative division of oblasts and several governorates in Imperial Russia. Until 1920s, okrugs were administrative districts in Cossack hosts.

Soviet Union

In the 1920s, okrugs were administrative divisions of oblasts and krais and were, in turn, divided into districts. On July 30, 1930 most of the okrugs were abolished. The remaining okrugs were abolished in the Russian SFSR during 1930–1946, although they were retained in Zakarpattia Oblast of the Ukrainian SSR in status equivalent to that of a district.

National okrugs were first created in the Mountain ASSR of the Russian SFSR in 1921 as units of Soviet autonomy and additional national okrugs were created in the Russian SFSR for the peoples of the north. In 1977, all national okrugs were renamed autonomous okrugs.

Russian Federation

In the present-day Russian Federation, the term okrug is either translated as "district" or rendered directly as "okrug", and is used to describe the following types of divisions:

• Federal Districts (federalny okrug), such as the Siberian Federal District;
• Autonomous okrugs (avtonomny okrug), such as Chukotka Autonomous Okrug.

After the series of mergers in 2005–2008, several autonomous okrugs of Russia lost their federal subject status and are now considered to be administrative territories within the federal subjects they had been merged into:

• Agin-Buryat Okrug, a territory with special status within Zabaykalsky Krai;
• Komi-Permyak Okrug, a territory with special status within Perm Krai;
• Koryak Okrug, a territory with special status within Kamchatka Krai;
• Ust-Orda Buryat Okrug, a territory with special status within Irkutsk Oblast.

Okrug is also used to describe the administrative divisions of the two "federal cities" in Russia:

• the administrative okrugs of Moscow are an upper-level administrative division.
• the municipal okrugs of St. Petersburg are a lower-level administrative division.

Furthermore, the designation okrug denotes several selsovet-level administrative divisions:

• okrugs, such as okrugs of Samara Oblast.
• rural okrugs (selsky okrug), such as the rural okrugs of Belgorod Oblast.
• rural territorial okrugs (selsky territorialny okrug), such as the rural territorial okrugs of Murmansk Oblast.
• stanitsa okrugs (stanichny okrug), such as the stanitsa okrugs of Krasnodar Krai.

Okrug is also used to describe a type of a municipal formation, the "municipal urban okrug"—a municipal urban settlement not incorporated into a municipal district.

Serbia

The Republic of Serbia is divided into twenty-nine okrugs as well as the City of Belgrade. The term okrug in Serbia is often translated as either "district" or "county".

See also

• Administrative division
• Military district

References

External links

• Okruha in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine