 | This articleneeds additional citations forverification. Please helpimprove this article byadding citations to reliable sources. Unsourced material may be challenged and removed. Find sources: "Autonomous oblasts of the Soviet Union" – news ·newspapers ·books ·scholar ·JSTOR(June 2022) (Learn how and when to remove this message) |
Autonomous oblasts of theUnion of Soviet Socialist Republics were administrative units created for a number of smaller nations, which were given autonomy within the fifteenrepublics of the USSR.
According to theconstitution of the USSR, in case of a union republic voting on leaving the Soviet Union,autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts andautonomous okrugs had the right, by means of areferendum, to independently resolve whether they will stay in the USSR or leave with theseceding union republic, as well as to raise the issue of their state-legal status.[1]
While the1978 Constitution of the RSFSR specified that the autonomous oblasts are subordinated to thekrais, this clause was removed in the December 15, 1990, revision, when it was specified that the autonomous oblasts were to be directly subordinated to theRussian 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:
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 |
The two autonomous oblasts in theSouth Caucasus region both became self-declared break-away states during thedissolution 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 underUkrainian SSR and became an autonomous republic (Moldavian ASSR) only months after its formation, a union republic (Moldavian SSR) in 1940, and now the independentMoldova. However,de facto, almost all areas of the original oblast are controlled either by Ukraine or byTransnistria.
