National districts of the Soviet Union
National districts or national raions were special raions of the Soviet Union from 1924 up until the 1940s, created to meet the needs of minority ethnic and cultural populations within republics. They were part of the larger policy of korenizatsiia, or "indigenization" pursued during this time.
Background
The Soviet Russia that took over from the Russian Empire in 1917 was not a nation-state, nor was the Soviet leadership committed to turning their country into such a state. In the early Soviet period, even voluntary assimilation was actively discouraged, and the promotion of the national self-consciousness of the non-Russian populations was attempted. Each officially recognized ethnic minority, however small, was granted its own national territory where it enjoyed a certain degree of autonomy, national schools, and national elites.List
Byelorussian Soviet Socialist Republic
For Poles in Belarus:Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic
For Greeks in Russia:- Greek Autonomous District, centered in Krymskaya
- Shapsung National District, located on the Black Sea in Krasnodar Krai
Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic
For Bulgarians in Ukraine:- Blahoieve Raion, centered in Blahoieve
- , centered in Kolarivka
- Vilshanka Raion, centered in Vilshanka
- , centered in Luxemburg
- , centered in Velyka Seideminukha
- , centered in
- , centered in various settlements over the course of its existence
- Marchlewszczyzna, centered in Marchlewsk
- Chuhuiv Raion, centered in Chuhuiv
- , centered in various settlements over the course of its existence
- Putyvl Raion, centered in Putyvl
- Sorokyne Raion, centered in Sorokyne
- Stanytsia-Luhanska Raion, centered in Stanytsia Luhanska
- Velyka Pysarivka Raion, centered in Velyka Pysarivka