Mari El, officially the Mari El Republic, is a republic of Russia. It is in the European region of the country, along the northern bank of the Volga River, and administratively part of the Volga Federal District. The republic has a population of 696,459. Yoshkar-Ola is the capital and largest city.

Volga Federal District is one of the eight federal districts of Russia. It forms the southeastern part of European Russia. It is the second most populated federal district. Its population was 29,899,699 according to the 2010 Census, living on an area of 1,038,000 square kilometers (401,000 sq mi). Igor Komarov was appointed the federal district's Presidential Envoy on 18 September 2018.