Municipal divisions of Russia

The municipal divisions in Russia, called the municipal formations (Russian: муниципальные образования, Munitsipalnye Obrazoniya), are territorial divisions of the Russian Federation within which the state governance is augmented with local self-government independent of the state organs of governance within the law, to manage local affairs.[1]

In the course of the Russian municipal reform of 2004–2005, all federal subjects of Russia were to streamline the structures of the local self-government, which is guaranteed by the Constitution of Russia. The reform mandated that each federal subject was to have a unified structure of the municipal government bodies by January 1, 2005, and a law enforcing the reform provisions went into effect on January 1, 2006. According to the law, the units of the municipal division (called municipal formations) are as follows:[2]

• Municipal district (or municipal raion), a group of urban and rural settlements, often along with the inter-settlement territories. In practice, municipal districts are usually formed within the boundaries of existing administrative districts.
  • Urban settlement, a city/town or an urban-type settlement, possibly together with adjacent rural and/or urban localities
  • Rural settlement, one or several rural localities
• Urban okrug, an urban settlement not incorporated into a municipal district. In practice, urban okrugs are usually formed within the boundaries of existing cities of federal subject significance.
• Intra-city territory of a federal city, a part of a federal city's territory. Since 2006 this kind of municipal units exists only in 3 cities:
  • Moscow, see ru:Список районов и муниципальных образований Москвы
  • Saint Petersburg, see Administrative divisions of Saint Petersburg
  • Sevastopol, see ru:Административно-территориальное деление города федерального значения Севастополя

Territories not included as a part of municipal formations are known as inter-settlement territories.

Since 2005, for statistical and tax purposes, all municipal formations are assigned codes according to the All-Russian Classifier of Territories of Municipal Formations, abbreviated in Russian as ОКТМО.

See also

• Elections in Russia#Local (self-government) elections

References

1. Кутафин О. Е., Фадеев В. И. Муниципальное право Российской Федерации. — М.: Велби, 2006. — 672 c. — ISBN 5-482-00718-9. — С. 301—302.
2. Государственная Дума Российской Федерации. Федеральный Закон №131-ФЗ от 6 октября 2003 г. «Об общих принципах организации местного самоуправления в Российской Федерации», в ред. Федерального Закона №243-ФЗ от 28 сентября 2010 г. (State Duma of the Russian Federation. Federal Law #131-FZ of October 6, 2003 On General Principles of the Organization of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation, as amended by the Federal Law #243-FZ of September 28, 2010. ).