Autonomous okrug (district, area, region) is a type of federal subject of Russia and simultaneously a type of administrative division of some federal subjects. As of 2008, the Russian Federation is divided into 83 federal subjects, of which four are avtonomnyye okruga ("autonomous districts", sing. avtonomny okrug).
Originally called national okrugs, this type of administrative unit was created in the 1920s and widely implemented in 1930 to provide autonomy to indigenous peoples of the North. In 1977, the 1977 Soviet Constitution changed the term "national okrugs" to "autonomous okrugs" in order to emphasize that they were indeed autonomies and not simply another type of administrative and territorial division. While the 1977 Constitution postulated that the autonomous okrugs are subordinated to the oblasts and krais, this clause was revised in December 15, 1990, when it was specified that autonomous okrugs are subordinated directly to the Russian SFSR, although they still may stay in jurisdiction of a krai or an oblast to which they were subordinated before.
As of 1990, ten autonomous okrugs existed within the RSFSR. Their current status (as of August 2008) within the Russian Federation is given in parentheses for autonomous okrugs which had a change in status:
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