The authors study Russian national policy in the Northern Caucasus, its new directions and evolution in the last decade of the 20th century. The various dimensions of this policy are scrutinized, including the ethno-confessional situation, Osetin-Ingush relations, the Chechen factor, rehabilitation of repressed nations, and issues of divided ethnoses and ethnic minorities. Name index. Also available by the same authors: Kavkaz: Narody v Eshelonakh (20-e - 60-e gg.) (1998).