A rural settlement is a self-governing political division in Russia. A rural settlement is composed of one or more contiguous rural communities: towns, villages, hamlets, farmsteads, exurbs, resorts, villas, stanitsas (Cossack settlements), kishlaks (settlements of Turkic peoples), auls (Caucasian fortified villages), or any other type. Political authority in rural settlements is exercised by the inhabitants, either directly or through elected (or otherwise constituted) bodies. The term "rural settlement" is also used in its generic sense to denote any rural inhabited place.