President Vladimir Putin has stripped occupied Crimea of its status of a federal district of Russia.
According to Interfax, Crimea has been made part of the Southern Federal District "to improve the efficiency of federal authorities".
Apart from Crimea, the Southern Federal District also includes the Republic of Adygea, the Republic of Kalmykia, Krasnodar Kray, Astrakhan, Volgograd and Rostov regions.
The Crimean federal district was de facto formed as part of Russia by Putin's decree dated 21 March 2014 with regard to the annexation of Crimea. De jure the peninsula remains Ukraine's Autonomous Republic of Crimea.