Smallest: Ingushetia, 3,123 km2 (1,206 sq mi) Largest: Sakha, 3,083,523 km2 (1,190,555 sq mi)
Government
Republican government
Subdivisions
Districts, cities and towns of republic significance
The republics are one type of federal subject of the Russian Federation.
21 republics are internationally recognized as part of Russia; another is under its de facto control.[1][2][3][b] The original republics were created as nation states for ethnic minorities. The indigenous ethnicity that gives its name to the republic is called the titular nationality. However, due to centuries of Russian migration, a titular nationality may not be a majority of its republic's population.
Formed in the early 20th century by Vladimir Lenin and the Bolsheviks after the collapse of the Russian Empire in 1917, republics were intended to be nominally independent regions of Soviet Russia with the right to self-determination. Lenin's conciliatory stance towards Russia's minorities made them allies in the Russian Civil War and with the creation of the Soviet Union in 1922 the regions became autonomous republics, albeit subordinate to a union republic. While officially autonomous, the autonomies of these administrative units varied throughout the history of the Soviet Union but largely remained under the control of the central government. The 1980s saw an increase in the demand of autonomy as the Soviet Union began large scale reforms of its centralized system. In 1990, most of the autonomous republics declared their sovereignty. The Soviet Union collapsed in 1991 and Russia became independent. The current republics were established with the signing of the Federation Treaty in 1992, which gave them substantial rights and autonomy.
Russia is an asymmetrical federation in that republics have their own constitutions, official languages, and national anthems, but other subjects do not. The republics also originally had more powers devolved to them, though actual power varied between republics, depending largely upon their economic importance. Through the signing of bilateral treaties with the federal government, republics gained extensive authority over their economies, internal policies, and even foreign relations in the 1990s. However, after the turn of the century, Vladimir Putin's centralization reforms steadily eradicated the autonomy of the republics with the exception of Chechnya. The bilateral agreements were abolished and in practice all power now rests with the federal government. Since the termination of the final bilateral treaty in 2017, some commentators consider Russia to no longer be a federation.[5][6]
In 2014, Russia invaded and annexed Crimea from Ukraine, incorporating the territory as the Republic of Crimea. However, it remains internationally recognized as part of Ukraine. During the 2022 Russian invasion of Ukraine, Russia declared the annexation of four partially-occupied Ukrainian provinces (oblasts), including the territory that had been under the control of the break-away Donetsk and Luhansk republics since 2014, and claimed the entirety of Donetsk and Luhansk provinces as Russian republics. These also remain internationally recognized as part of Ukraine.
Cite error: There are <ref group=lower-alpha> tags or {{efn}} templates on this page, but the references will not show without a {{reflist|group=lower-alpha}} template or {{notelist}} template (see the help page).
^Heaney 2023, pp. 6, 16, 43, "Crimea and Sevastopol, which were annexed in 2014, and...four Ukrainian regions annexed de jure, if not de facto, in 2022...After Crimea and Sevastopol were annexed from Ukraine in 2014, the federal centre repeatedly emphasized internal and external threats to their stability...If Russia were ever to achieve similar control over the four territories purportedly annexed from Ukraine in 2022, such focus on their security, too, would seem likely...Putin announced the annexation of four Ukrainian regions: the so-called 'People's Republics' established in the eastern Ukrainian cities of Donetsk and Luhansk...despite Russian control of all of these territories being by no means assured.".
^Blakkisrud 2023, "Ethnic autonomies within the Russian Federation...As per the 1993 Constitution...Added: Crimea (2014)".
^Sakwa 2023, "Thus Russia inherited 89 regions in 1991 grouped into three main types (ethno-federal republics, autonomous regions of various sorts, and ordinary regions [oblasts], including today the major cities of Moscow and St Petersburg along with Sevastopol in Crimea). The result in institutional terms is asymmetrical federalism in what is now 85 regions (following the merger of certain smaller entities and the incorporation of the Republic of Crimea and Sevastopol in 2014)".
^Heaney 2018, p. 180.
^Avdaliani, Emil (14 August 2017). "No Longer the Russian Federation: A Look at Tartarstan". Georgia Today. Archived from the original on 7 March 2019. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
^"Russia revoking Tatarstan's autonomy". European Forum for Democracy and Solidarity. 9 August 2017. Retrieved 7 March 2019.
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