Autonomous oblast

Autonomous oblast. An oblast in the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics that belonged to one of the Union republics and was populated by a national minority. The autonomy actually consisted of the right of the given minority to use its language in the schools and in civil life. There were no autonomous oblasts on the territory of the Ukrainian Soviet Socialist Republic. On the border of Ukrainian ethnic territories in Subcaucasia lied the Adygei Autonomous oblast, which was part of the Krasnodar krai, and the Karachai-Cherkess Autonomous oblast, which was part of the Stavropol krai.

[This article originally appeared in the Encyclopedia of Ukraine, vol. 1 (1984).]