Sochi Sub-Region as a Political and Administrative Unit: Features and Perspectives

Abstract

The article is devoted to analyzing Sochi sub-region as a special political and administrative unit. The relevance of the study is defined by the increased socio-political significance of the city of Sochi. The sub-regional issues involve, first of all, studying specifics of understanding the domestic region and sub-region both in the scientific literature and in Russian legislation. The author shows the practical need and suggests expanding the use of the “sub-region” concept to characterize a number of internal territorial units of Russia, including the city of Sochi. The use of an interdisciplinary approach and a comparative research method allows us to identify the political and other features of Sochi, which together provide a basis for concluding that there are objective grounds for identifying and considering the Sochi sub-region in Russian political regionalism. Currently, the Sochi sub-region as a political and administrative unit is a specific urban district of the Krasnodar region, characterized by a large population and unity of socio-political, national-cultural and natural features, having the legal status of a municipality, but having a number of issues of federal importance. At the same time, the current legal status of Sochi as an ordinary municipality does not correspond to its socio-political significance, the scale and nature of the problems to be solved at the level of the actual sub-region. In this regard, the article offers options for improving the political and legal status of the city of Sochi, including: fixing the special status of the city of Sochi in the charter of the Krasnodar region, adopting a specific federal law on the development and status of the city of Sochi, giving Sochi the status of a separate subject of the federation — city of federal importance.