Editing Selsoviet (section)

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{{Short description|Rural council in Russia, Belarus and Ukraine}}
A '''selsoviet''' ({{langx|be|сельсавет|sieł'saviet}}; {{langx|ru|сельсовет|sel'sovet}}, {{IPA|ru|sʲɪlʲsɐˈvʲet|IPA}}; {{langx|uk|сільрада|sil'rada}}) is the shortened name for '''Selsky soviet''', i.e., '''rural council''' ({{langx|be|се́льскi саве́т}}; {{langx|ru|се́льский сове́т}}; {{langx|uk|сільська́ ра́да}}). It has three closely related meanings: 
*The administration (''[[soviet (council)|soviet]]'') of a certain rural area.
*The territorial subdivision administered by such a council.
*The building of the selsoviet administration.

Selsoviets were the lowest level of administrative division in rural areas in the [[Soviet Union]]. After the dissolution of the Soviet Union, they were preserved as a third tier of administrative-territorial division throughout [[Ukraine]], [[Belarus]], and many of the [[federal subjects of Russia]].

A selsoviet is a rural administrative division of a [[raion]] (district) that includes one or several smaller rural localities and is in a subordination to its respective raion administration.

The name refers to the local rural self-administration, the rural [[soviet (council)]], a part of the Soviet system of administration. The head of a selsoviet is called chairman, who had to be appointed by higher administration.