Raion

A raion or raïon (in Russian, Ukrainian and Bulgarian: Ru район; in; in; in; in) is the term used in several States of old the Soviet Bloc to describe two types of administrative subdivisions: a territorial Subdivision or a subdivision of city.

The raion is a territorial subdivision in Azerbaïdjan, in Bielorussia, Georgia, Latvia, Moldavie, Russia, Ukraine, and in some other countries of the ex- Soviet Union and in Bulgaria. As an administrative subdivision, the term was introduced by the reform of the Soviet administration of 1923 - 1929, which transformed mainly the Volost S and the Ouïezd S of the Russian Empire raions some.

A raion is generally a subdivision of second level. It can be a question of a subdivision:

of a Oblast in Bielorussia;
of a Oblast, a Krai, a autonomous republic, a autonomous district or a big city in Russia;
of small a ex- Soviet republic (RSS), or of a oblast, will krai, republic or big city of a large Soviet ex-republic;
of a oblast, a big city, or the the Crimea in Ukraine.

Generally, raions them have a certain degree of autonomy, in the shape of a council of the district (Raisoviet) elected by the people, and/or of a chief of the local government, either elected, or named.

Raions in the federation of Russia

The subdivision raions some largely remained after the fall of the Soviet Union. However, in many areas, the terminology changed to reflect national specificities (the list can be incomplete):

in Republic of Karelia, raions them coexist with the Volost S (Ru волости). The two types are regarded as being of the same administrative level.
in republic of Sakha (old the Yakoutie), with the Oulous (Ru улус).
in republic of Touva, with the Kojououn (Ru кожуун).

Translation of the Russian term " Ru район" in French

There does not exist exact translation of the Russian word " Ru район". That relates to the application of this term not only to the administrative organization and territorial in Russia, but also to that of almost all the republics ex-Soviets, because in general they inherited the system the USSR.

Why would be necessary it to avoid using the word " district" to translate the word " Ru район"?

Firstly, the word " Ru район" is generally applied to two types of administrative units in Russia:

#un Ru район represents a district of a big city (Moscow, Saint-Pétersbourg, Nijni-Novgorod and much of others);

#un Ru район also represents, as indicated higher, a territorial subdivision, a territory around a ville/un large village, regarded as Ru районныйцентр (center of raion).

Thus, on a side, one can easily translate " Ru район" by " arrondissement" , if that applies to a city; on another side, one can admit the word " arrondissement" if it is about a territorial subdivision with a center of raion, because often the number of inhabitants in this type of raions is equivalent to that of a district of a city.

Secondly, as from the month of May 2000, the word " district" is applied especially to translate the concept of Ru федеральныйокруг (district federal), introduced by Vladimir Poutine (it is one of the first measurements that it took at the time of its arrival at the position of president) and aiming at establishing an additional administrative subdivision, gathering several areas (subjects of federation) in order to reinforce " the vertical of the pouvoir". Currently there exist 7 federal districts in Russia, each one having a size comparable with that of Western Europe even more (Siberian districts). From this point of view, it is desirable to avoid the use of the word " district" to translate the word " Ru район" not to have confusions.

Therefore, " Ru район" would be translated more like " arrondissement" , while " district" is the French equivalent for " Ru округ" (Okroug).

Random links: