Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union

Autonomous oblasts of the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics were administrative units created for a number of smaller nations, which were given autonomy within the fifteen republics of the USSR.

According to the constitution of the USSR, in case of a union republic voting on leaving the Soviet Union, autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts and autonomous okrugs had the right, by means of a referendum, to independently resolve whether they will stay in the USSR or leave with the seceding union republic, as well as to raise the issue of their state-legal status.^[1]

Russian SFSR

While the 1978 Constitution of the RSFSR specified that the autonomous oblasts are subordinated to the krais, this clause was removed in the December 15, 1990, revision, when it was specified that the autonomous oblasts were to be directly subordinated to the Russian SFSR. In June 1991, five autonomous oblasts existed within the RSFSR, four of which were elevated to the status of republic on July 3, 1991:

Name	Capital	Established	Krai	Post-Soviet federal subjects of Russia
Adyghe Autonomous Oblast	Maykop	1922	Krasnodar Krai	Adygea
Gorno-Altai Autonomous Oblast	Gorno-Altaysk	1922	Altai Krai	Altai
Jewish Autonomous Oblast	Birobidzhan	1934	Khabarovsk Krai	Jewish Autonomous Oblast
Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Oblast	Cherkessk	1922[a]	Stavropol Krai	Karachay-Cherkessia
Khakas Autonomous Oblast	Abakan	1930	Krasnoyarsk Krai	Khakassia

Other autonomous oblasts also existed at earlier points of the Soviet history. They were either merged together or promoted to autonomous republics:

Name	Capital	Years of membership	Soviet successor
Chechen Autonomous Oblast	Grozny	1922–1934	Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Oblast
Ingush Autonomous Oblast	Vladikavkaz	1924–1934
Cherkess Autonomous Oblast	Cherkessk	1926–1957[b]	Karachay-Cherkess Autonomous Oblast
Karachay Autonomous Oblast	Karachayevsk	1926–1943
Checheno-Ingush Autonomous Oblast	Grozny	1934–1936	Chechen-Ingush ASSR
Chuvash Autonomous Oblast	Cheboksary	1920–1925	Chuvash ASSR
Kabardino-Balkarian Autonomous Oblast	Nalchik	1921–1936[c]	Kabardino-Balkarian ASSR
Kalmyk Autonomous Oblast	Astrakhan Elista	1920–1935 1957–1958	Kalmyk ASSR
Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast	Pishpek	1924–1926[d]	Kyrgyz ASSR
Komi (Zyryan) Autonomous Oblast	Ust-Sysolsk	1922–1936	Komi ASSR
Mari Autonomous Oblast	Krasnokokshaysk	1920–1936	Mari ASSR
North Ossetian Autonomous Oblast	Vladikavkaz	1924–1936	North Ossetian ASSR
Tuvan Autonomous Oblast	Kyzyl	1944–1961	Tuvan ASSR
Udmurt Autonomous Oblast	Glazov Izhevsk	1920–1934[e]	Udmurt ASSR
Karakalpak Autonomous Oblast	Turtkul	1925–1932[f]	Karakalpak ASSR

Other union republics

The two autonomous oblasts in the South Caucasus region both became self-declared break-away states during the dissolution of the Soviet Union:

Name	Capital	Established	Soviet Socialist Republic	Post-Soviet subject
Gorno-Badakhshan Autonomous Oblast	Khorog	1925	Tajik SSR	Tajikistan (Gorno-Badakhshan)
Nagorno-Karabakh Autonomous Oblast	Stepanakert	1923	Azerbaijan SSR	Nagorno-Karabakh
South Ossetian Autonomous Oblast	Tskhinvali	1922	Georgian SSR	South Ossetia

Moldavian Autonomous Oblast was established in 1924 under Ukrainian SSR and became an autonomous republic (Moldavian ASSR) only months after its formation, a union republic (Moldavian SSR) in 1940, and now the independent Moldova. However, de facto, almost all original areas are controlled by Transnistria.

See also

• Autonomous republics of the Soviet Union
• Autonomous okrugs of the Soviet Union
• Subdivisions of the Soviet Union

Notes

1. Split in 1926 and reestablished in 1957.
2. 1926–1928:Cherkess National Okrug
3. 1921–1922:Kabardin Autonomous Oblast
4. 1924–1925:Kara-Kirghiz Autonomous Oblast
5. 1920–1932:Votyak Autonomous Oblast
6. Under Kazakh ASSR until 1930.