A rural settlement is a self-governing political division in Russia. A rural settlement is composed of one or more contiguous rural communities: towns, villages, hamlets,

farmstead A farmstead refers to the buildings and service areas associated with a farm. It consists of a house belonging to a farm along with the surrounding buildings. The characteristics of a specific farmstead reflect the local landscape, which provides ...

exurb An exurb (or alternately: exurban area) is an area outside the typically denser inner suburbs, suburban area, at the edge of a metropolitan area, which has some economic and commuting connection to the metro area, low housing-density, and rela ...

resort A resort (North American English) is a self-contained commercial establishment that aims to provide most of a vacationer's needs. This includes food, drink, swimming, accommodation, sports, entertainment and shopping, on the premises. A hotel ...

villa A villa is a type of house that was originally an ancient Roman upper class country house that provided an escape from urban life. Since its origins in the Roman villa, the idea and function of a villa have evolved considerably. After the f ...

stanitsa A stanitsa or stanitza ( ; ), also spelled stanycia ( ) or stanica ( ), was a historical administrative unit of a Cossack host, a type of Cossack polity that existed in the Russian Empire. Etymology The Russian word is the diminutive of the word ...

s (Cossack settlements),

kishlak Kishlak or qishlaq (, , , , ), or qıştaq () qıstaw () is a rural settlement of semi-nomadic Turkic peoples of Central Asia and Azerbaijan. The meaning of the term is "wintering place" in Turkic languages (derives from Turkic ''qış'' - win ...

s (settlements of Turkic peoples),

aul An aul; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; ; (; ) is a type of fortified village or town found throughout the Caucasus and Central Asia. They are generally built out of stone, on faces of ridges or against cliffs in order to provide protection against su ...

s (Caucasian fortified villages), or any other type. Political authority in rural settlements is exercised by the inhabitants, either directly or through elected (or otherwise constituted) bodies. A rural settlement is a constituent part of a

municipal district A municipal district is an administrative entity comprising a clearly-defined territory and its population. It may be a city, a town, a village, a small grouping of them, or a rural area. Brazil In Brazil, municipal districts are, in general, su ...

, a political entity created as part of municipal reforms in 2004. Prior to 2004, the district (

raion A raion (also spelt rayon) is a type of administrative unit of several post-Soviet states. The term is used for both a type of subnational entity and a division of a city. The word is from the French (meaning 'honeycomb, department'), and is c ...

), inherited from the

Soviet Union The Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR), commonly known as the Soviet Union, was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 until Dissolution of the Soviet ...

, had been the primary division next lowest below

oblast An oblast ( or ) is a type of administrative division in Bulgaria and several post-Soviet states, including Belarus, Russia and Ukraine. Historically, it was used in the Russian Empire and the Soviet Union. The term ''oblast'' is often translated i ...

(province). (A municipal district may, in addition to or instead of rural settlements, include urban settlements, which are composed of various urban communities.) The term "rural settlement" is also used in its generic sense to denote any rural inhabited place.

Characteristics

Rural settlement as a formal political division was provided for in the 2003 law "On The General Principles of Organization of Local Government in the Russian Federation", which was promulgated as part of municipal reform. Rural settlements often correspond to a ''village council'' of Soviet times, or a ''parish'' in the pre-Soviet and post-Soviet periods (for one example among thousands, the Tyamshanskaya Rural Settlement in the

Pskovsky District Pskovsky District () is an administrativeLaw #833-oz and municipalLaw #419-oz district (raion), one of the administrative divisions of Pskov Oblast, twenty-four in Pskov Oblast, Russia. It is located in the northwest of the oblast and borders with ...

Pskov Oblast Pskov Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast), located in the west of the country. Its administrative center is the Classification of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Pskov. As of the Russian Census ...

). In some areas, the term "village council" is still used as a synonym for "rural settlement", and even still used in formal names of entities (for instance, Novinsky Village Council in the

Bogorodsky District Bogorodsky District is the name of several administrative and municipal districts in Russia. Modern districts *Bogorodsky District, Kirov Oblast, an administrative and municipal district of Kirov Oblast *Bogorodsky District, Nizhny Novgorod Obl ...

Nizhny Novgorod Oblast Nizhny Novgorod Oblast () is a federal subjects of Russia, federal subject of Russia (an oblast). Its administrative center is the types of inhabited localities in Russia, city of Nizhny Novgorod. It has a population of 3,119,115 as of the 2021 Ru ...

). The rural settlement serves as the administrative center for the locality, which is defined as taking into account local traditions and existing social infrastructure. The rural settlement is where, in accordance with the laws of the Russian Federation, the lowest level representative body is constituted. As a general rule, a rural settlement will consist of either one rural community with a population of 1,000 or more, or several rural communities each with a population less than 1,000. In areas of greater population density, a rural settlement may consist of either one rural community with a population of 3,000 or more, or several rural communities each with a population less than 3,000. The population of rural settlement usually varies from a few dozen people up to 15,000 or 20,000 inhabitants. There are rural settlements with a population of more than 30,000, and the most populous rural settlement, Ordzhonikidzevskaya in

Ingushetia Ingushetia or Ingushetiya, officially the Republic of Ingushetia, is a republic of Russia located in the North Caucasus of Eastern Europe. The republic is part of the North Caucasian Federal District, and shares land borders with the country o ...

, had a population at the 2013 census of more than 60,000. The boundaries of a rural settlement (when composed of two or more communities) are generally set to allow a person to walk to the administrative center and back during a working day. Exceptions are made for areas with low population density and for remote and inaccessible areas.

References

{{reflist, refs= {{cite web , url=http://www.consultant.ru/document/cons_doc_LAW_44571/ , title=Федеральный закон от 06.10.2003 N 131-ФЗ (ред. от 30.12.2015) "Об общих принципах организации местного самоуправления в Российской Федерации" (с изм. и доп., вступ. в силу с 01.01.2016) , trans-title=Federal Law of October 6, 2003 Number 131-FZ (version of December 30, 2015) "On General Principles of Local Self-Government in the Russian Federation" (revised and extended, in force as of January 1, 2016) , author=Russian Federal Assembly , date=2003 , publisher=Consultant.ru , accessdate=February 17, 2016 {{in lang, ru {{cite web, url=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/bd_munst/1-%25D0%25B0%25D0%25B4%25D0%25BC_%25D1%2582%25D0%25B0%25D0%25B14.xls&usg=ALkJrhjBvyevQeHvnou85Xjt6GbMwr0xCg , title=Characteristics of the Russian Federation by Types of Municipalities and Types of Municipal Institutions on January 1, 2010 , date= , publisher=Rosstat (Russian Federal State Statistics Service) , accessdate=February 17, 2016 {{dead link, date=June 2016, bot=medic{{cbignore, bot=medic {{in lang, en {{cite web , url=https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/bd_munst/1-adm_2011.xls&usg=ALkJrhj40cp1FRgdlpUUUiWjhiVlERqFFQw , title=The Number of Municipalities in the Subdivisions of the Russian Federation on January 1, 2011 , date= , publisher=Rosstat (Russian Federal State Statistics Service) , accessdate=February 17, 2016 {{in lang, en {{cite web , url=https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/bd_munst/1-adm_2012.xls&usg=ALkJrhiuOycM0HkIstoe9v52oYCEAIe5eg , title=The Number of Municipalities in the Subdivisions of the Russian Federation on January 1, 2012 , date=August 6, 2012 , publisher=Rosstat (Russian Federal State Statistics Service) , accessdate=February 17, 2016 {{in lang, en {{cite web , url=https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/bd_munst/1-adm_2013.xls&usg=ALkJrhhQD8C36dYdMIshiGpMvC9iWjTifw , title=The Number of Municipalities in the Subdivisions of the Russian Federation on January 1, 2013 , date=March 6, 2013 , publisher=Rosstat (Russian Federal State Statistics Service) , accessdate=February 17, 2016 {{in lang, en {{cite web , url=https://translate.googleusercontent.com/translate_c?depth=1&hl=en&ie=UTF8&prev=_t&rurl=translate.google.com&sl=ru&tl=en&u=http://www.gks.ru/free_doc/new_site/bd_munst/1-adm_2014.xls&usg=ALkJrhilxU9luiVCWbfGvOtFl4xEfTd4ow , title=The Number of Municipalities in the Subdivisions of the Russian Federation on January 1, 2014 , date=May 28, 2014 , publisher=Rosstat (Russian Federal State Statistics Service) , accessdate=February 17, 2016 {{in lang, en Municipalities of Russia

Characteristics

See also

References