The Khanty-Mansiysk Autonomous District is also known as Yugra and is run as an autonomous part of the Tyumen Region. It is a major centre for oil production. The district is named after its centre of Khanty-Mansiysk which in turn is named after two native ethnic groups - the Khanty and the Mansi. However the Khanty and the Mansi are now minorities in the district. According to the 2010 census, more ethnic Ukrainians were living here than the Khanty and Mansi combined. In addition neither the Khanty nor the Mansi language, both of which belong to the Uralic branch of languages, have the status of an official language of the district.

Although the district’s centre, Khanty-Mansiysk is only fourth in terms of population, the cities of Surgut, Nizhnevartovsk and Nefteyugansk are all larger. The three larger cities all have economies tied to oil production.