KARATCHEFF, a town of Russia, in the government of Orel, near the river Snezheti, 59 miles north-west from Orel on the railway to Smolensk. The population is given in the St Petersburg Calendar for 1874 at 10,023. A yearly fair is held in the adjoining village of Berezhka, and a good trade is carried on in agricultural produce, as well as in the oil, wax candles, ropes, &c., furnished by the local industry.

Karatcheff is mentioned as early as 1146. In the 17th century it was one of the frontier or “watch” towns of Russia towards the Crimea, and sent out its scouts as far as Kursk. About half the inhabitants perished of the plague in 1654. Only since 1778 has the town been at the head of a district in Orel; it formerly belonged to the governments of Kieff (1708) and Bielgorod (1732).