Usually translated as “district,” an okrug is an administrative division in the Russian Federation. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, a number of autonomous okrugs were downgraded to okrugs within their corresponding federal subjects, including Aga Buryatiya, Komi-Permyakiya, Koryakiya, and Ust-Orda Buryatiya. In Samara Oblast, the lowest-level territorial division is the okrug rather than the traditional raion; Belgorod, Murmansk, and Krasnodar Krai also use okrugs to designate internal geopolitical divisions. Russia’s federal cities, Moscow and St. Petersburg, are similarly subdivided into okrugs.
Historical Dictionary of the Russian Federation. Robert A. Saunders and Vlad Strukov. 2010.