Krai

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Krai or kray (Russian: край) is a term used to refer to eight of Russia's 84 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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