Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug in the context of "Tyumen Oblast"

Autonomous okrugs, (Russian: автономный округ, romanized: avtonomnyy okrug) which are also referred to as "autonomous districts" or "autonomous areas" are a type of federal subject of the Russian Federation and simultaneously an administrative division type of some federal subjects. As of 2024, Russia has four autonomous okrugs of its 83 federal subjects. The Chukotka Autonomous Okrug is the only okrug which is not subordinate to an oblast. The Nenets Autonomous Okrug is a part of Arkhangelsk Oblast, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug are parts of Tyumen Oblast.

According to the Constitution of the Soviet Union, in case of a union republic voting on leaving the Soviet Union, autonomous republics, autonomous oblasts, and autonomous okrugs had the right, by means of a referendum, to independently resolve whether they will stay in the USSR or leave with the seceding union republic, as well as to raise the issue of their state-legal status.

Khanty (also spelled Khanti or Hanti), previously known as Ostyak (/ˈɒstjæk/), is a branch of the Ugric languages composed of multiple dialect continua. It is varyingly considered a language or a collection of distinct languages spoken in the Khanty-Mansi and the Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrugs in Siberia. It belongs to the wider Uralic language family. There were thought to be around 7,500 speakers of Northern Khanty and 2,000 speakers of Eastern Khanty in 2010, with Southern Khanty being extinct since the early 20th century. The number of speakers reported in the 2020 census was 13,900.

The Khanty language has many dialects. The western group includes the Obdorian, Ob, and Irtysh dialects. The eastern group includes the Surgut and Vakh-Vasyugan dialects, which in turn are subdivided into 13 other dialects. All these dialects differ significantly from each other by phonetic, morphological, and lexical features to the extent that the three main "dialects" (northern, southern and eastern) are mutually unintelligible. Thus, based on their significant multifactorial differences, Eastern, Northern and Southern Khanty may be considered separate but closely related languages.

The Yamalo-Nenets Autonomous Okrug (Russian: Яма́ло-Не́нецкий автоно́мный о́круг, romanized: Yamalo-Nenetsky avtonomny okrug; Nenets: Ямалы-Ненёцие автономной ӈокрук, romanized: Jamaly-Nenjocije awtonomnoj ŋokruk) also known as Yamalia (Russian: Ямалия) is a federal subject of Russia and an autonomous okrug of Tyumen Oblast. Its administrative center is the town of Salekhard, and its largest city is Novy Urengoy. The 2021 Russian Census recorded its population as 510,490.

The autonomous okrug borders Krasnoyarsk Krai to the east, the Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug to the south, and the Nenets Autonomous Okrug and Komi Republic to the west.

Surgut (Russian: Сургут, IPA: [sʊrˈgut]; Khanty: Сәрханӆ, Sərhanł; Сө̆ркут, Sörkut) is a city in Khanty-Mansi Autonomous Okrug, Russia, located on the Ob River. It is one of the few cities in Russia to be larger than the capital or the administrative center of its federal subject in terms of population, economic activity, and tourist traffic. The population as per the last four Russian censuses: 396,443 (2021 census); 306,675 (2010 census); 285,027 (2002 census); 247,823 (1989 Soviet census).

The Mansi (Mansi: Мāньси / Мāньси мāхум, Māńsi / Māńsi māhum, [ˈmaːnʲsʲi, ˈmaːnʲsʲi ˈmaːxʊm]) are an Ob-Ugric Indigenous people living in Khanty–Mansia, an autonomous okrug within Tyumen Oblast in Russia. In Khanty–Mansia, the Khanty and Mansi languages have co-official status with Russian. The Mansi language is one of the postulated Ugric languages of the Uralic family. The Mansi people were formerly known as the Voguls.

Together with the Khanty people, the Mansi are politically represented by the Association to Save Yugra, an organisation founded during Perestroika in the late 1980s. This organisation was among the first regional indigenous associations in Russia.