Comprehensive information and links about Belarus raion

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raion ; Belarusian раён; Azeri: rayon), is one of two kinds of administrative subdivisions in languages of some post-Soviet states: a subnational entity and a subdivision of a city. In these senses the term is almost always translated as "district".

Raion is a subnational entity of Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Latvia, Moldova, the Russian Federation, Ukraine, and the former Soviet Union. As an administrative subdivision, the term was introduced by the Soviet administrative reform of 1923–1929 that transformed many former volosts and uyezds of the Russian Empire into raions.

A raion is usually an entity two steps below the national level. It can be a subordinate part:

of a small Soviet republic (SSR), oblast, krai, republic, or a big city of a large SSR (in the now-defunct Soviet Union);

Raions in the Russian Federation

Subdivision into raions largely remained after the collapse of the Soviet Union. However in many places the terminology changed, to reflect national specifics (the list may be incomplete):

Republic of Karelia—raions coexist with national districts (национальные районы) and i (волости). All three types are considered to be on the same administrative level, with national districts and volosts covering areas which are more ethnic in population.

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