Okrug

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For the village in Croatia, see Okrug, Split-Dalmatia County.

Okrug (Bulgarian: окръг; Serbian and Russian: о́круг; Ukrainian: округа, translit. okruha) is a term to denote a subnational entity in some Eastern European Slavic states. Etymologically, the word is a calque of the German word Bezirk ("district"). Both okrug and Bezirk refer to something literally "encircled".

1 Bulgaria
2 Imperial Russia
3 Soviet Union
4 Russian Federation
5 Serbia
6 See also
7 External links

[edit] Bulgaria

Main article: Provinces of Bulgaria

In Bulgaria, okrugs, translated as "districts" or "counties", were a subdivision of the larger oblasts (provinces) that existed between 1987 and 1999.

[edit] Imperial Russia

Okrugs were a type of administrative subdivision in Imperial Russia. Until 1920, okrugs were administrative districts in Cossack hosts.

[edit] Soviet Union

Main article: Autonomous okrugs of the Soviet Union

[edit] Russian Federation

Main article: Subdivisions of Russia

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 Koryak Autonomous Okrug;
Komi-Permyak Okrug, a territory with special status within Perm Krai.

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 Adygea.
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.

Finally, the term okrug applies to a type of a municipal unit: municipal urban okrug, which refers to a municipal urban settlement not incorporated into a municipal district.

[edit] Serbia

Main article: Districts of Serbia

See also: Subdivisions of Serbia

The Republic of Serbia is divided into 29 okrugs (districts) as well as the "district city" of Belgrade. The term okrug in Serbia is often translated as either "district" or "county".