KRAI

'Krai' or 'kray' () is a term used to refer to eight of Russia's 85 federal subjects. The term is often translated as 'territory', 'province', or 'region'.
In Russia, krais were historically vast territories located along the periphery of the country. Currently, however, the usage of the term is mostly traditional as some oblasts also fit this description and there is no difference in legal status between the krais and the oblasts. In the Soviet Union (according to its Constitution of 1977, Ch.11), the only difference between krais and oblasts were that an autonomous oblast could be a sub-division of a krai or of a union republic, but not of an oblast. Russia did not save this difference.
Administratively, krais are divided into districts (''raions'').
Since the word ''krai'' also means ''border'' or ''end'', it is used to describe regions located along the economic and geographic periphery. The words Ukraine and Ukrainian incorporate ''krai'' within them.

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See also

External links

See also

★ Krais of Russia, a list of modern krais

★ kreis

★ Krais of Imperial Russia, a list of krais that existed in the Russian Empire

★ Kraj, an equivalent term used in the Czech Republic and Slovakia

★ Krajina

External links

★ etymology of the word (in Russian)