National delimitation in the Soviet Union

In the Soviet Union, national delimitation was the process of specifying well-defined national territorial units (Union Republics [SSR], Autonomous Soviet Socialist Republics [ASSR], autonomous oblasts [provinces], raions [districts] and okrugs [circuits]) from the ethnic diversity of the USSR and its subregions. The Russian-language term for this Soviet state policy was razmezhevanie (from Russian: национально-территориальное размежевание, natsionalno-territorialnoye razmezhevaniye), which is variously translated in English-language literature as "national-territorial delimitation" (NTD), "demarcation", or "partition".

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