Southern Russia

• 1. Introduction

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  Southern Russia is a colloquial term with a specific geographical reality beneath it. The Russian Classification on Objects of Administrative Division assigns it no official status. That gap between common use and government definition has always set this region apart. Who first inhabited these lands? Which empires left the deepest marks? And how did a place with no formal name become the site of one of history's stranger political experiments?

• 2. Ancient Crossroads

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  Humans have occupied the Caucasus and the Pontic-Caspian steppe since the Prehistoric Age. By the Early Middle Ages, Eastern Slavic tribes had begun settling the southern parts of European Russia. Among them were the Antes, who established their presence in the region from the 3rd century onwards.

  Byzantine civilization left a deep mark on Southern Russia, channeling its influence through Kievan Rus' and then through the Tsardom of Russia. Persian culture also contributed to the region's cultural heritage, adding its own layer to the mix. The Late Middle Ages would bring a very different kind of influence, arriving from the east.

• 3. The Mongol Threshold

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  The Mongols invaded the Caucasus during the Late Middle Ages, accompanied by Turkic vassals who advanced under their banner. Between the Volga and Don rivers, those Turkic tribes eventually founded a Tatar state that would anchor the region's new political order.

  Historical sources record that the people of Southern Russia converted to Islam during this period, following contact with the Mongols. The same contact drove a broader process of Turkification across the south.

  The Tatar state that took root between the Volga and Don rivers endured for generations. Centuries later, those same territories would be fought over by armies with very different loyalties and purposes.

• 4. A Quasi-State at War

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  During the Russian Civil War of 1917-1922, the southern reaches of the former Russian Empire produced one of history's more unusual political experiments. A military quasi-state calling itself South Russia came into existence in 1919. It survived only until 1920.

  South Russia claimed the southern portion of the former Russian Empire, including territories that today form part of Ukraine. Its armed forces included the Volunteer Army and the Armed Forces of South Russia. Together they fought the Bolsheviks for control of the region.

  Soviet historiography also gave this entity a second name: the White South. That label pointed to the White Army, which also fought the Bolsheviks in the region. The territories the quasi-state had tried to hold would spend decades under Soviet rule before being reorganized into federal districts.

• 5. Two Districts, Nineteen Entities

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  Nineteen federal constituent entities currently fall within the area that Russians informally call Southern Russia. They spread across two of Russia's nine federal districts: the Southern Federal District and the North Caucasian Federal District. This arrangement took shape after the Soviet Union dissolved in 1991.

  Six of those nineteen entities are disputed with Ukraine. They include the Republic of Crimea and the federal city of Sevastopol. Russia also claims the Donetsk People's Republic, the Luhansk People's Republic, Kherson Oblast, and Zaporozhye Oblast, all occupied or claimed from 2022.

  Most of Southern Russia falls within the North Caucasus economic region. Three entities stand outside it: Astrakhan Oblast, the Republic of Kalmykia, and Volgograd Oblast, which belong to the Volga economic region.

  Rossiyskaya Gazeta and Vedomosti maintain dedicated sections for Southern Russia, ensuring the term stays in active use. That editorial continuity connects entities as different as the Republic of Kalmykia and the Chechen Republic under a single informal name.