Sovietskyi (; ) or Ichki (; ; ) is an

urban-type settlement Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern Europe, Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the So ...

in the

Autonomous Republic of Crimea The Autonomous Republic of Crimea is a ''de jure'' administrative division of Ukraine encompassing most of Crimea that was unilaterally annexed by Russia in 2014. The Autonomous Republic of Crimea occupies most of the peninsula,Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

and incorporated by

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

as the Republic of Crimea. The town also serves as the administrative center of the

Sovietskyi Raion Sovietskyi Raion (, ) or Ichki Raion (, ) was one of the 25 regions of the Autonomous Republic of Crimea until its abolition in 2020. It continues to be used as an administration of Russia's Republic of Crimea, as it occupies the peninsula. The ...

(

district A district is a type of administrative division that in some countries is managed by the local government. Across the world, areas known as "districts" vary greatly in size, spanning regions or county, counties, several municipality, municip ...

), housing the district's local administration buildings. Since the

Annexation of Crimea by the Russian Federation In February and March 2014, Russia invaded the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula, part of Ukraine, and then annexed it. This took place in the relative power vacuum immediately following the Revolution of Dignity. It marked the beginning of the Russ ...

in 2014, the town has been under ''de facto'' Russian control. In 2016, the

Verkhovna Rada The Verkhovna Rada ( ; VR), officially the Verkhovna Rada of Ukraine, is the unicameralism, unicameral parliament of Ukraine. It consists of 450 Deputy (legislator), deputies presided over by a speaker. The Verkhovna Rada meets in the Verkhovn ...

passed

decommunization Decommunization in former communist states is the process of purging former communist high officials and eliminating communist symbols. It is sometimes referred to as political cleansing. Although the term has been occasionally used during t ...

legislation that renamed this town to Ichki (), though it hasn't yet been implemented since Ukraine doesn't control the town as of 2024.

History

The area around today's settlement likely began between 3,000 and 1,000 BC. The first mention of the modern town in 1784 in a historian's report. Following the 1783

annexation of Crimea by the Russian Empire The territory of the Crimean Khanate was annexed by the Russian Empire on . Russia had wanted more control over the Black Sea, and an end to the Crimean slave trade, and as such, waged a series of wars against the Ottoman Empire and its Cri ...

, the town became under Russian control. Since then, the town has administratively fallen under different districts, mainly in the

Taurida Governorate Taurida Governorate was an administrative-territorial unit ('' guberniya'') of the Russian Empire. It included the territory of the Crimean Peninsula and the mainland between the lower Dnieper River with the coasts of the Black Sea and Sea o ...

. At the beginning of 1941, up to 5,400 people lived in the village of Ichki, and it was classified as an

. On December 14, 1944, as part of the Soviet Union's de-tatarization efforts, the government renamed the village from Ichki to Sovietskyi. Following the

dissolution of the Soviet Union The Soviet Union was formally dissolved as a sovereign state and subject of international law on 26 December 1991 by Declaration No. 142-N of the Soviet of the Republics of the Supreme Soviet of the Soviet Union. Declaration No. 142-Н of ...

, Crimea participated and voted in favor of independence during the Ukrainian independence referendum, and Sovietskyi became part of the

in 1991. In 2014, the town came under Russian control following the beginning of

Russian occupation of Crimea On 27 February 2014, Little green men (Russo-Ukrainian War), unmarked Russian soldiers were deployed to the Crimea, Crimean Peninsula in order to wrest control of it from Ukraine, starting the Russo-Ukrainian War. * * * * * * * This military o ...

and the subsequent Russian annexation. In 2015, the

included Sovietskyi in a list of settlements that required renaming as part of the Ukrainian government's decommunization efforts. On May 12, 2016, the

approved legislation that legally changed the town's name back to Ichki, and also the

to Ichki Raion. In 2023, the Ukrainian parliament passed a legislation redefining types of settlements, and most

urban-type settlements Urban-type settlement, abbreviated: ; , abbreviated: ; ; ; ; . is an official designation for lesser urbanized settlements, used in several Central and Eastern European countries. The term was primarily used in the Soviet Union and later also f ...

, including Sovietskyi / Ichki, have been changed to be a

rural settlement The definition of a rural settlement depends on the country, in some countries, a rural settlement is any settlement in the areas defined as rural by a governmental office, e.g., by the national census bureau. This may include even rural towns. ...

Demographics

As of the

2001 Ukrainian Census The 2001 Ukrainian census is to date the only census of the population of independent Ukraine. It was conducted by the State Statistics Committee of Ukraine on 5 December 2001, twelve years after the last Soviet Union census in 1989.College of Hydraulic Land Reclamation and Agricultural Mechanization (Branch), Crimean Federal University

References

{{Subdivisions of Crimea Urban-type settlements in Crimea Sovietskyi Raion Rural settlements in Crimea